Martin Bashir

Martin Bashir
Born	19 January 1963 (1963-01-19) (age 48) South London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Journalist Anchor
Religious belief(s)	Christian
Years active	1986–present

Martin Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist and media personality, currently with NBC News as a contributor for its Dateline program, and an afternoon anchor for MSNBC, hosting Martin Bashir.^[1] He was previously an anchor for ABC's Nightline and is known for his interviews with Diana, Princess of Wales and controversy surrounding his interview and conflicting statements in his reports on singer Michael Jackson.

Early life

Bashir was born in Wandsworth, South London to parents of Pakistani origin and grew up in Wandsworth. He was educated at the state comprehensive Wandsworth School for Boys and King Alfred's College of Higher Education, Winchester (since 2004 the University of Winchester), studying English and History from 1982–1985, and at King's College London. He is fluent in English, Urdu and Hindi. Reportedly he has identified himself as a "committed Christian".^[2]

Career

He started work as a journalist in 1986. He worked for the BBC until 1999 on programmes including Songs of Praise, Public Eye and Panorama and then he joined ITV, working on special documentary programmes and features for Tonight with Trevor McDonald.

Bashir came to wide prominence in 1995 when he interviewed (for the BBC's Panorama programme) Diana, Princess of Wales about her failed marriage to the Prince of Wales.^[3][4] Since then he has conducted interviews with, among others, Louise Woodward, the five suspects in the Stephen Lawrence case, Michael Barrymore, Jeffrey Archer, Major Charles Ingram, and Joanne Lees.

Bashir was employed by ABC and co-anchored their current affairs show Nightline. Along with Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran, he took over Nightline from Ted Koppel in 2005 following the famous news anchor's final broadcast.

In August 2010 Bashir left ABC for NBC and MSNBC where he will serve as a contributor for Dateline and an afternoon anchor for MSNBC.^[1]

Bashir had a role as himself in the comedy film Mike Bassett: England Manager.

Michael Jackson interviews

In 2003, Bashir conducted a series of interviews with pop singer Michael Jackson, as part of a documentary for ITV. Following the broadcast, which was viewed by 14 million in the UK and 38 million in the US, several media personalities accused Bashir of yellow journalism, claiming that he deliberately doctored the recordings in order to paint Jackson in an unflattering light, as well as emphasising the allegations of child molestation made against Jackson. The New York Times called Bashir's journalism style "callous self-interest masked as sympathy."^[5]

In response, Jackson and his personal cameraman released a rebuttal interview, which showed Bashir complimenting Jackson for the "spiritual" quality of the Neverland Ranch, thus contradicting the journalist's previous statements that it was a "dangerous place" for children. Bashir also describes Jackson as a wonderful father and says that Jackson's relationship with his children "almost makes him weep".^[6]

Dieter Wiesner, the pop star's manager from 1996 to 2003, stated about the influence of Bashir's documentary on Michael Jackson:

"It broke him. It killed him. He took a long time to die, but it started that night. Previously the drugs were a crutch, but after that they became a necessity."^[7]

Bashir later said of Jackson during ABC's coverage of his death,

"When I made the documentary, there was a small part that contained a controversy concerning his relationship with young people. But the truth is that he was never convicted of any crime, and I never saw any wrongdoing myself."^[8]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Nightline's Martin Bashir Headed to MSNBC, Dateline". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Martin-Bashir-MSNBC-1020865.aspx. 
2. ^ Wells, Matt (2003-01-22). "Talk to me". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/jan/22/broadcasting.g2. 
3. ^ "Transcript of the BBC1 Panorama interview with the Princess of Wales". Great Interviews of the 20th century. The Guardian. http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/diana/panorama.html. Retrieved 3 October 2010. 
4. ^ "Neophyte reporter makes journalistic coup". Manila Standard. November 18, 1995. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F5MVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0woEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3998,2764955&dq=martin-bashir&hl=en. Retrieved 3 October 2010. 
5. ^ Stanley, Alessandra (2003-02-06). "TELEVISION REVIEW; A Neverland World Of Michael Jackson". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/arts/television-review-a-neverland-world-of-michael-jackson.html. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
6. ^ Low, Valentine (2009-06-27). "Michael Jackson: PR suicide with the help of Martin Bashir". The Times (London). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6586855.ece. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
7. ^ "Former manager unveils scale of Michael Jackson's drug use". Telegraph.co.uk (London). 2009-07-01. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/5704635/Former-manager-unveils-scale-of-Michael-Jacksons-drug-use.html. Retrieved 2009-07-04. 
8. ^ "Bashir: Jacko was the greatest". The Sun (London). 2009-06-27. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2504331/Martin-Bashir-Michael-Jackson-was-the-greatest.html. 

External links

• Profile and Martin Bashir show at MSNBC
• Martin Bashir at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Martin Bashir in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Preceded by Ted Koppel

Nightline anchor November 28, 2005–August 6, 2010 With Terry Moran and Cynthia McFadden

Succeeded by Bill Weir With Terry Moran and Cynthia McFadden

Persondata
Name	Bashir, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1963-01-19
Place of birth	South London, England, United Kingdom
Date of death
Place of death