Sort of interesting day if you like to listen to the BBC relentlessly eviscerating itself whilst at the same time they try to apply a field dressing to the gaping wound and carry on as if nothing happened.
There are though still plenty of attempts to play down the Savile affair and the subsequent Newsnight bungle.
Nicky Campbell suggested that no one knew a thing about Savile, not a clue…the general view at the BBC was that he had been a ‘benign eccentric’.
If you ever wondered why complaining to the BBC Governors or the BBC Trust rarely resulted in any meaningful action you only had to listen to Sir Christopher Bland and Sir Michael Lyons telling us what a load of old hooey over nothing very much all this is…..Lyons tells us it is all really just the Press kicking up sand and taking a swipe at the BBC.
Not that the BBC ever engaged in attacking Murdoch’s or any other news papers.
Richard Bacon dragged in the man with a distant relationshiop to the truth, Kevin Marsh, yet again, and also Ben Fenton from the lefty FT….who also suggested a similar line to Lyons…no story really just the Press trying to lessen the case for regulation under Leveson because if good old Aunty Beeb can make mistakes well so can anyone….so no need for tighter regulation says Fenton…its a tabloid agenda not a real story about the BBC and Savile.
He tells us, and Bacon jumps aboard, what happened was only a series of marginal mistakes…sins of ommission not commission…unlike the evil Murdoch papers who plotted their nefarious deeds deliberately.
However I would suggest if you knew something about Savile, and it seems many did KNOW, then to look away and do nothing is not ommission it is commission…you have decided to ignore abuse.
It does look, before Panorama goes to air, that George Entwistle was either remiss in not doing his job or he is lying about not knowing or asking about Newsnight’s investigation. When Helen Boaden told him he might have to change his programme schedule because of the Newsnight programme surely he would have to ask her to justify that….or is his trust in Helen Boaden so great that he just bows down before her…in the jealously guarded realms of televison?
Peter Rippon’s future doesn’t look too bright on the evidence so far….inaccurate and incomplete explanation of why he cancelled the Newsnight programme…..and the emails reveal senior management involvement in decision making….long denied by all.
Something else that Rippon said is of interest, and ironic all considered….he was keen to look at the CPS’ reasons for not going ahead with their prosecution…because it showed ‘ institutional failure’…which was a strong story…and more interesting.
That does shine a little light into the BBC thinking…always keen to undermine other Institutions in the interest of better telly.
All in all not a brilliant day for the management and panjandrums of the BBC….but credit where credit is due…except to Bacon and perhaps Campbell….many have worked hard on digging into the heart of this tale and have not shied away from the bad news.
Can only hope Panorama does a proper job and doesn’t come up with the jaded formula of ‘Yes we did wrong but it wasn’t all that bad really, the times and culture etc, it happened in alot of other places as well not just the BBC, and we have changed our ways since…unlike the grubby Redtops!’….which has been the constant refrain from the BBC in their own defence so far.
