The British Broadcasting Corporation says it’s made good on its promise to donate revenues from its notorious 1995 “Panorama” interview with Princess Diana to charities linked to the late royal.
On Friday, the BBC announced a total of £1.42 million ($1.64 million) to Centrepoint, the English National Ballet, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, The Leprosy Mission, National Aids Trust, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and The Diana Award. Diana wasn’t linked with the award. It was established after her death.
“The BBC had indicated its intention to donate to charity the sales proceeds derived from the 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales. The BBC has now done so. Given the findings of Lord Dyson, we think this is the right and appropriate course of action,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
Lord Dyson’s report determined that BBC journalist Maritn Bashir had “deceived and induced” Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, into coordinating a meeting with Diana to get the interview, which aired on “Panorama” in 1995.
Bashir has denied wrongdoing for his role in the interview, which included bombshell revelations about Diana’s relationship with her then-estranged husband, Prince Charles.
Director-general Tim Davie of the BBC previously said in a statement: “Now we know about the shocking way that the interview was obtained, I have decided that the BBC will never show the program again, nor will we license it in whole or part to other broadcasters.
“It does of course remain part of the historical record and there may be occasions in the future when it will be justified for the BBC to use short extracts for journalistic purposes, but these will be few and far between and will need to be agreed at executive committee level and set in the full context of what we now know about the way the interview was obtained,” his statement concluded.
The monies for the donation come from commercial revenue and not the license fee obtained from the British public.