The BBC is said to be facing "its worst crisis for 50 years", as a documentary lifts the lid on the extent to which senior managers of the corporation were aware of the Jimmy Savile abuse claims.
A special edition of Panorama reveals fresh evidence about what the BBC knew of Savile's decades of child abuse and its investigation into why Newsnight spiked its probe into the scandal, sparking allegations of a cover-up.
The BBC flagship programme, which airs tonight, examines why corporation chiefs - including the Director General - gave different explanations why Newsnight was dropped and what it was about.
Newsnight editor Peter Rippon maintains the piece - which was due to run last December - was pulled for editorial reasons, and not because the potentially damaging revelations coincided with a planned tribute to the star.
But the hour-long documentary will hear from Newsnight producer Meirion Jones and reporter Liz MacKean, who both claim they had interviewed at least four alleged victims of Savile - and confirmed with Surrey Police that they had investigated sex abuse complaints against the Jim'll Fix It star in 2007.
They say that when they told bosses the Crown Prosecution Service did not charge Savile because of insufficient evidence, they were told to end the investigation - and the show was withdrawn.
The programme also calls into question Director General George Entwistle's handling of the crisis in the days after it broke.
Questions over how Director General George Entwistle has handled the crisis On October 5, Mr Entwistle wrote an email to all staff about the crisis the corporation found itself engulfed in, saying "the BBC Newsnight programme investigated Surrey Police's enquiry into Jimmy Savile towards the end of 2011".
But Meirion Jones sent an email reply to Mr Entwistle on the same day taking issue with his account.
He wrote: "George - one note - the investigation was into whether Jimmy Savile was a paedophile - I know because it was my investigation. We didn't know that Surrey police had investigated Jimmy Savile - no-one did - that was what we found when we investigated and interviewed his victims."
The abuse stories about Savile only fully emerged after ITV broadcast a documentary at the start of this month - sparking mayhem at the BBC over losing its scoop and leading to the cover-up allegations.
Panorama said it has failed to find evidence of a "BBC cover-up" over the Newsnight decision.
In a statement, the programme said: "Peter Rippon has always maintained the story was pulled for 'editorial reasons' and not because of a potentially embarrassing clash with planned BBC tributes to Savile over Christmas.
"Panorama has found no evidence to contradict that view."
But the BBC's veteran foreign affairs editor John Simpson said of the fallout: "This is the worst crisis that I can remember in my nearly 50 years at the BBC. I don't think the BBC has handled it terribly well.
"I mean I think it's better to just come out right at the start and say we're going to open everything up and then we're going to show everybody everything.
"All we have as an organisation is the trust of the people the people that watch us and listen to us and if we don't have that, if we start to lose that, that's very dangerous I think for the BBC."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
BBC 'In Crisis' Over Jimmy Savile Scandal
Dengan url
http://juarapageone.blogspot.com/2012/10/bbc-in-crisis-over-jimmy-savile-scandal.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
BBC 'In Crisis' Over Jimmy Savile Scandal
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
BBC 'In Crisis' Over Jimmy Savile Scandal
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar