Martin Bashir

Martin Bashir

Martin Henry Bashir is a British journalist and news anchor. He came to prominence on British television with his BBC interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, and then his fly-on-the-wall documentary with pop singer Michael Jackson on ITV. Bashir worked for the BBC from 1986 until 1999 on programmes including Panorama. He was appointed as BBC News religious affairs correspondent in September 2016.

About Martin Bashir in brief

Summary Martin BashirMartin Henry Bashir is a British journalist and news anchor. He came to prominence on British television with his BBC interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, and then his fly-on-the-wall documentary with pop singer Michael Jackson on ITV. On 4 December 2013, Bashir resigned from his position at MSNBC after he made comments described as ‘ill-judged’ Bashir worked for the BBC from 1986 until 1999 on programmes including Panorama and then joined ITV. He was appointed as BBC News religious affairs correspondent in September 2016. The BBC’s director general Tim Davie in late 2020 to apologise to the brother of the princess, Earl Spencer, for Bashir’s use of faked bank statements used to gain the interview with his sister. Former Supreme Court judge John Dyson, Lord Dyson is to head an independent inquiry into the issue. At the time of the revelations about his interview with the princess Bashir was seriously ill from the effects of COVID-19 and was recuperating after quadruple bypass surgery. He has not responded to enquires about his ill health until his recovery has been completed. The Daily Mirror published a headline on 6 November saying he’s ‘too ill’ to respond to Princess Diana claims.

The former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond wrote in The Sunday Times that she did not regret the broadcast in 1996 in a private meeting in which Bashir said she feared a gagging order would be given to her. On 13 November 2020, it was reported that the BBC had found the note from the meeting was in fact from the late Princess Diana, which it had cleared Bashir of pressuring her to give the interview in the first place. Bashir has said in 2019, \”Every time I have faced a challenge I have heard him whispering saying, ‘What excuse do you have? You have no excuse. ‘\” He started to work as a journalist as a freelance sports journalist before joining the BBC in 1986. He worked for ABC’s Nightline, a political commentator for MSNBC, hosting Martin Bashir, and a correspondent for NBC’s Dateline NBC. Bashir dedicated his decisions in life to his late brother, including his appearance on Celebrity X Factor. He is the father of one of five children, one of whom suffered from muscular dystrophy and died in 1991. He lives in Wandsworth, London, to liberal Muslim parents from Pakistan.