The news that Panorama is to investigate Panorama is a reminder of the clear moral superiority of the journalists they employ - or not, depending on your perspective. Editor Rachel Jupp is reported to have turned to reporter John Ware and producer Leo Telling to pick apart the inception of Martin Bashir's 1995 interview with Princess Diana, whilst a good number of BBC licence fees are being spent in parallel on Lord Dyson's quasi-judicial investigation into the same matter.
For this self-flagellation to be conceived, Head of Current Affairs Joanna Carr will have had to give approval, and it can't be happening without the knowledge of Director of News Fran Unsworth and Director General Tim Davie.
Spookily John Ware was the reporter on the Panorama special A Fight to the Death, granted 90 minutes of prime-time in January 2004. Programme editor Peter Horrocks said the very making of this "even-handed and objective account" on the doomed defence of Andrew Gilligan by then DG Greg Dyke against persistent challenge from Alistair Campbell was evidence that the BBC could be impartial.
John Ware and three Panorama colleagues continued to share their important insights in September 2004, in a letter to staff magazine Ariel, picked up by The Guardian.
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