News chief: BBC mistake was like Hitler hoax

The BBC news chief at the centre of an internal investigation over Andrew Gilligan's Today report has compared the corporation's Hutton crisis to the Hitler Diaries hoax.

Director of news Richard Sambrook, who so far has kept his job despite criticism of BBC bosses in the Hutton report, drew the comparison in an email to staff, and added: "Every so often a major news organisation makes a big and high-profile mistake. None of us is immune."

The Hitler Diaries, bought for serialisation in the Sunday Times in 1983, were later exposed as fakes.

Mr Sambrook also compared the BBC's shaming by Hutton to the crisis at the New York Times over rogue reporter Jayson Blair, who faked stories. He said the important thing was for the BBC to learn from its mistake and become more "open" to concerns about its programmes.

BBC bosses are investigating Mr Sambrook over his handling of Gilligan's report on the Today programme, which claimed the Government deliberately exaggerated Iraq's weapons capabilities.

BBC director-general Greg Dyke and chairman Gavyn Davies quit after Lord Hutton's criticism.