What landed instead

Though sticking to the line that "the corporation’s commitment to impartiality is absolute", Sarah Sands also tells The Sunday Times that stories sometimes "veer". Cue another revealing anecdote:

She once commissioned a segment on a Greek village where huge numbers of refugees had arrived. She envisaged a piece on the anatomy of the pressures faced in the village. After various BBC processes, what landed instead was a “very nice piece on child mental health in refugee camps”. She says: “That’s a really good story, but it’s not the story we were discussing. I think there’s just an expression of sympathy for the underdog, so I can see why the overall effect is that it feels liberal.”