Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, has spoken publicly to justify the airing of an episode of “Panorama” that investigates payments made to current FIFA executives.
The program, which aired three days before the FIFA Executive Committee voted to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cup touraments to Russiaand Qatar, respectively, has been blamed for harming England’s bid to host in 2018. Thompon insists not only that the information is accurate but that airing the program best served “public interestand public concern.”
He also said, “I have to say that I believe that in the end, although I understand that there are often reasons to believe that transmitting a program might beimpolitic or inconvenient, if you believe that you have a matter of real public concern to broadcast, there have got to be overwhelmingly powerful reasons for not broadcasting.
“I believewe were right to broadcast and I believe we have very strong support from the British public in broadcasting.”