BBC criticised for Newsnight axed Jimmy Savile report

ArchiveDec 19, 2012

2 min read

Nick Pollard's review found the BBC's management system had "proved completely incapable of dealing" with the issue and "the level of chaos and confusion was even greater than was apparent at the time". "Leadership and organisation seemed to be in short supply" it adds
The deputy director of news Stephen Mitchell is criticised for removing the Savile investigation from a list of the BBC's potentially difficult programmes. He has since announced he will leave the BBC next year
Nick Vaughan-Barratt, former BBC head of events, wrote to then-director of BBC Vision George Entwistle in May 2011 saying he was "queasy" at the thought of an obituary for Savile. He said he had seen "the real truth" about Savile, but the email was never read
The Trust's report on the Newsnight film that led to Lord McAlpine being wrongly named as a paedophile had resulted largely from a failure by members of the team to follow the BBC's own editorial guidelines
It led to the resignation of director-general George Entwistle after just 54 days in the job, and three BBC employees have been disciplined
The report found that Newsnight failed to complete "basic journalistic checks" and there was confusion about who had the ultimate responsibility for "final editorial sign-off"
The resignation of deputy director of news Stephen Mitchell has been accepted by the BBC, and he will retire next year
Editor of Newsnight Peter Rippon will be replaced, and is in talks with the BBC about a possible new role. In a statement, Mr Rippon disputed that the decision to drop the Savile story had been flawed, but said it was right that Newsnight had a "fresh start"
Newsnight deputy editor Liz Gibbons is also being replaced and will move to a new role
Head of BBC News Helen Boaden, who had stepped aside during the inquiry, will return to her post on Thursday
Radio 5 live controller Adrian Van Klaveren will move to a new role

Published December 19, 2012