The BBC yesterday faced demands that it introduce fundamental changes to the way it handles breaking news in the wake of the Hutton Report yesterday.
As the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) threatened industrial action if the BBC did not support Andrew Gilligan, calls grew for the corporation to ensure basic editing procedures before reports go to air.
Mr Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the NUJ, said that the BBC needed to examine its editing procedures "to allow journalists to feel confident in doing investigative journalism, for their materials to be subject to proper checks and balances and make sure journalists do not become timid in their approach to news."
He said Lord Hutton had criticised one report of a total of 19 made by Mr Gilligan on May 29th, and had "singled out one sentence barely noticed at the time," using it to condemn the entire story.
"He has taken an unwarranted sideswipe at Andrew Gilligan's note-taking, when other reporters recorded David Kelly as saying very similar things. The \ report is selective, grossly one-sided and a serious threat to the future of investigative journalism," Mr Dear said.
In the report in question, broadcast at 6.07 a.m. on May 29th on BBC Radio Four Today programme, Mr Gilligan said the British government had ordered that an intelligence dossier on Saddam Hussein be "sexed up" with additional information that could be used to justify military action in Iraq.
The report took the form of a live question-and-answer session, with Mr Gilligan speaking by telephone from his home. In subsequent reports, he did not repeat the allegations about government interference to ensure the dossier included the claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.
The NUJ said that it would take "whatever action was necessary" to support Mr Gilligan, and urged the BBC to stand firm.
Others, however, were not so supportive. Mr Rod Allen, head of the department of journalism at City University in London, accused Mr Gilligan of "bad journalism" and questioned his personal ability.