"The British Invasion" Dr Kelly's suicide "made the summer riveting."

How many members of the Bahai administration  would agree with John
Tusa, former managing director of the BBC World Service: that since
the suicide of Bahai Dr Kelly in June 2003, watching, listening and
reading  news by TV radio and world media  "made the summer
riveting."?

Errol

The British Invasion   

Many Americans searching for a different view of the war in Iraq
turned to the British Broadcasting Corp. Does the BBC offer a more
aggressive and complete approach to the news, or a tilt to the left—
or both?
Related reading:          How It's Aired

By Lori Robertson 
Lori Robertson is AJR's managing editor.      

The British Broadcasting Corp. can certainly relate to American media
outlets in one stark way: The radio and television behemoth has been
embroiled in a journalistic controversy that threatens to damage its
credibility, change the way it does business and, most likely, result
in the ouster of a few employees.

For media buffs, the New York Times' springtime of discontent segued
nicely into the BBC's summer of the same. A governmental inquiry led
by Lord Hutton explored the events surrounding the suicide of David
Kelly, a weapons expert who was an anonymous source for an explosive
BBC report on the British government's claims about Iraq's weapons of
mass destruction. The radio segment, by correspondent Andrew Gilligan,
charged the government with "sexing up" a September 2002 dossier and
further alleged 10 Downing Street knowingly inserted a false claim
that Iraq could launch its WMD in 45 minutes.

Soon Kelly was identified as the source of that report. Shortly
thereafter, he told his wife he was going for a walk and never
returned. His body was found the morning of July 18.

While American news audiences didn't see much coverage of the inquiry,
the British press was full of front-page stories, loads of commentary
and, in the broadcast media, reenactments of the proceedings. Internal
e-mails, reporters' notes and the diary of Alastair Campbell, Prime
Minister Tony Blair's director of communications and strategy, were
brought forth as so much dirty laundry, and neither the government nor
the BBC came off looking particularly good. The Hutton inquiry even
set up its own Web site, www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk, to give the
public a look at the mounds of testimony.

Says John Tusa, former managing director of the BBC World Service: It
"made the summer riveting."

Full article:
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3503