A Whitewash That Won't Wash?

Well, Lord Hutton has issued his report -- full excoriation of the BBC, and full exoneration of 10 Downing Street. Blair and the warfloggers are ecstatic, and the right is attacking the BBC all-out. The rank and file of Aunt Beeb, however, are up in arms, and a full half of the British people aren't buying it:

A poll found yesterday that a majority of people thought Lord Hutton's report was wrong to lay all the blame at the BBC's door. The poll, by NOP, showed 56 per cent thought the peer was wrong to blame only the BBC; 49 per cent said the report was a whitewash, with 40 per cent disagreeing.

A whitewash. Not just unfair, or imbalanced, or biased. A whitewash.

It's important to remember that we're talking about Britain here, not America, where our use of both language and rhetoric are more free-wheeling. This is nothing less than a stunning rebuke of both Hutton's inquiry and Blair's presumptuous crowing. And the fisking of the Hutton report has already begun (the irony of the term's origins -- right-wing bloggers dissecting British reporter Robert Fisk's articles -- are particularly epic in this case). While the Blair administration and BBC try to put an end to the mess, battle lines are already being drawn, and not just on line. News organizations around the world are rallying around vulnerable Aunt Beeb, while Alastair Campbell and News Corp. (owner of Fox and Sky News) go for the jugular.

The row over Dr. Kelly, Hutton, and the BBC isn't over. Not by a long shot. In fact, I'd argue that thanks to Lord Hutton's one-sided report, the battle has just begun.

(/) Roland X
Save Aunt Beeb!