LONDON, Feb 5: BBC employees took to the streets on Thursday to vent their anger over a damning judicial report that forced the resignation of the broadcaster's two top officials.
Bearing banners saying: "Hands off the BBC" and "No Political Influence," staffers at BBC offices throughout Britain rallied in support of former Director General Greg Dyke and urged the broadcaster to resist pressure from government.
Cars driving by honked their horns in support. "These are protests, not strikes - we're not in conflict with BBC management," said Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, which helped to organise the protests. "But we will be loud and vocal. We want the BBC's governors and senior management to join with us in defence of the BBC in the face of government attack."
The resignation of Dyke and BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies came after judge Lord Hutton issued a top-to-bottom critique of the broadcaster's standards and oversight, after reporter Andrew Gilligan said the government "sexed up" intelligence on Iraqi weapons.
The Hutton report also cleared Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in the death of Iraqi weapons expert David Kelly, who committed suicide last Summer after he was revealed as Gilligan's anonymous source.
Critics of the BBC said that the protests are a sign that the corporation has not learned the lessons of the Hutton report and is unwilling to accept its own errors.
"The NUJ is responding to the emotional hurt its members feel," said David Elstein, who is leading an opposition Conservative Party review of the BBC. "They're trying to turn it into an issue of journalistic independence, but it's not - it's that when you make a mistake, you apologise."
The BBC, funded by a licence fee paid by UK television viewers, is facing a review of its charter that could end its current system of self-governance. The BBC's private-sector competitors have long argued it should fall under the oversight of communications regulator Ofcom.
The Hutton report's exoneration of government and excoriation of the BBC has prompted a backlash in the UK, with many supporters of the BBC complaining of a whitewash. -Reuters
