Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British former journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's Panorama programme, for which he gained an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales under false pretences in 1995. Although the interview was much heralded at the time, it was later determined that he used forgery and deception to secure it.
Bashir worked for the BBC from 1986 to 1999 on programmes including Panorama before joining ITV. He presented the 2003 ITV documentary about Michael Jackson. From 2004 to 2016, he worked in New York—first as an anchor for ABC's Nightline, then as a political commentator for MSNBC, hosting his own programme, Martin Bashir, and a correspondent for NBC's Dateline NBC. He resigned from MSNBC in December 2013 after making "ill-judged" comments about former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In 2016, he returned to the BBC as a religious affairs correspondent.
In 2020, the BBC's director general Tim Davie apologised to the princess's brother, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, for Bashir's use of faked bank statements to secure his 1995 Panorama interview with her. Former Justice of the Supreme Court Lord Dyson conducted an independent inquiry and concluded that Bashir had commissioned fake statements to deceive Earl Spencer to gain access to Diana, and in so doing had "acted inappropriately and in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the Producers' Guidelines on straight dealing." Bashir resigned from the BBC in May 2021, citing health reasons.
Bashir was born and raised in Wandsworth, London, to Muslim parents from Pakistan; his father served in the Royal Navy during World War II. Bashir was educated at the boys' state comprehensive Wandsworth School, King Alfred's College of Higher Education, Winchester, studying English and History from 1982 to 1985 (at the time, degrees at King Alfred's were approved by the Council for National Academic Awards), and at King's College London, where he completed a master's degree in theology. Bashir embraced Christianity in his late teens.
Bashir was one of five children, one of whom suffered from muscular dystrophy and died in 1991. Bashir attributed his decisions in life to his late brother, including his appearance on The X Factor: Celebrity. Bashir 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.'"
Bashir was a freelance sports journalist before joining the BBC in 1986. He worked for the BBC until 1999, on programmes including Songs of Praise, Public Eye and Panorama. For Panorama, he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in a 1995 edition.
In 1999 he joined ITV, working on special documentary programmes and features for Tonight with Trevor McDonald.
In 2004, Bashir moved to New York, where he worked for ABC, co-anchoring their current affairs show Nightline; along with Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran, he took over Nightline from Ted Koppel in 2005.
In 2008, while working as a reporter for Nightline, Bashir was suspended from ABC News after making remarks in a speech at the Asian American Journalists Association convention in Chicago that were described as "crude and sexist". He said, "I'm happy to be in the midst of so many Asian babes. I'm happy that the podium covers me from the waist down." He continued and said a speech should be "like a dress on a beautiful woman – long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep your interest – like my colleague Juju's", referring to his ABC News colleague Juju Chang, a reporter for 20/20. ABC News suspended him. He wrote an apology to the journalists association which stated, "Upon reflection, it was a tasteless remark that I now bitterly regret. I … hope that the continuing work of the organization will not be harmed or undermined by my moment of stupidity."
In August 2010, Bashir left ABC for MSNBC, where he served as a political commentator and occasional substitute host for Lawrence O'Donnell, hosted his own programme, Martin Bashir, and was a correspondent for NBC's Dateline NBC.
In January 2013, Bashir was criticised for misleading viewers by airing an edited clip of Neil Heslin, whose son was killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, testifying in court. Heslin asked his audience if there was one person in the room who could provide a reason why carrying an assault weapon was necessary: 'Heslin paused for five seconds and looked around him. No one else spoke. "Not one person can answer that question," he said. Then, someone in the audience shouted: "The Second Amendment shall not be infringed."' Bashir's edited companion footage included neither Heslin's interrogation of the audience nor the period of silence, allowing Bashir to describe the clip as "a father's grief interrupted by the cries of a heckler." The edited footage also omitted Heslin's remarks on respecting different opinions. MSNBC later aired an unedited video of the testimony, inviting viewers to decide for themselves whether the response to Heslin's challenge was "heckling" or not.
On 15 November 2013, Bashir criticised Sarah Palin for comments that she made comparing the U.S. federal debt to slavery. Bashir attempted to counter Palin's comparison by referencing the punishment of slaves described by slave overseer Thomas Thistlewood, specifically a punishment called "Derby's dose", and concluded by saying "if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, she would be the outstanding candidate". On 18 November, he apologised, stating among other things: "My words were wholly unacceptable. They were neither accurate, nor fair. They were unworthy of anyone who would claim to have an interest in politics." On 2 December, Bashir was suspended by the network; he "resigned" two days later, issuing a statement saying: "I deeply regret what was said, will endeavour to work hard at making constructive contributions in the future and will always have a deep appreciation for our viewers."
BBC religious affairs correspondent
In late 2016, Bashir returned to BBC News as religious affairs correspondent, succeeding Caroline Wyatt in the post. He left the BBC on 14 May 2021 after a period of ill health and shortly before the publication of a report from an inquiry into his 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.
In November 1995, Bashir interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales about her failed marriage to the Prince of Wales for the BBC's Panorama programme. The programme was seen by nearly 23 million viewers in the UK. At the time, the BBC hailed it as the scoop of a generation. The interview was an international sensation, and catapulted Bashir, a little-known reporter for a BBC investigative programme, to global fame.
Five months later, two reporters for the Mail On Sunday broke the story that Bashir had secured the interview using falsified documents to manipulate the princess's family. The reporters, Nick Fielding and Jason Lewis, wrote that Bashir approached Diana's brother the Earl Spencer with bank statements which he said were proof that Spencer's former head of security, Alan Waller, secretly received money from a tabloid newspaper, presumably to spy on Spencer and his family.
A BBC freelance graphic designer named Matt Wiessler told the Mail on Sunday that he had created the bank statements in about nine hours on Bashir's orders, and Bashir had used them to win the trust of the Spencer family and connect, through Charles Spencer, to Diana. Wiessler said he was told the documents would be used as filming props. When he began to suspect they were used to deceive the Spencers, he spoke to Fielding and Lewis.
The article, which called Bashir's deception "an extraordinary breach of BBC journalistic ethics," prompted the BBC to announce an internal investigation headed by BBC news chief Tony Hall. Hall interviewed neither Wiessler nor Spencer himself, and the BBC quickly announced that it was clearing Bashir of all wrongdoing because the fake documents—which it did not deny had been created—were not used to secure the interview.