Editing Today (BBC Radio 4) (section)

==Controversy==
''Today'' found itself in the midst of controversy again in 2002, when its editor [[Rod Liddle]] wrote a column in ''[[The Guardian]]'' that was extremely critical of the [[Countryside Alliance]] and which raised questions about his own impartiality. In the article, he wrote that catching "a glimpse of the forces supporting the Countryside Alliance: the public schools that laid on coaches; the fusty, belch-filled dining rooms of the London clubs that opened their doors, for the first time, to the protesters; the Prince of Wales and, of course, Camilla ... and suddenly, rather gloriously, it might be that you remember [why you voted Labour] once again." He resigned from his post on ''Today''.

In the summer of 2003, ''Today'' once again found itself at the centre of allegations of political bias, this time against a Labour government. The controversy arose after ''Today'' broadcast a report by its correspondent [[Andrew Gilligan]]. The report alleged that a dossier the British Government had produced to convince the British public of the need to invade [[Iraq]] had been "sexed up" (deliberately exaggerated), and that the government had known this prior to publishing it. In his live interview with presenter John Humphrys, just after 6.07 a.m., Gilligan asserted that the dossier and the Government "probably knew" that one of the main claims in the dossier "was wrong". Gilligan's [[Journalism sourcing|anonymous source]] for the claim was Dr [[David Kelly (weapons expert)|David Kelly]], a key adviser on biological weapons who had worked in Iraq – though it was never established whether Dr Kelly had actually used the words Gilligan attributed to him. In the furore that followed Gilligan's report, Kelly's name became public and he was forced to appear before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Shortly afterward he was found dead following presumed suicide. In the ensuing public inquiry (the [[Hutton Inquiry]]), which reported in January 2004, the BBC was heavily criticised. This led to the resignation of the BBC's chairman, [[Gavyn Davies]], the Director-General, [[Greg Dyke]], and Andrew Gilligan.

On Friday 5 November 2010, the programme was not broadcast due to 48-hour strike action at the BBC. Transmission continued the next day, in spite of ongoing industrial action, as [[Evan Davis]] and [[Sarah Montague]] decided to break the strike.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}