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| Jimmy Savile: MPs to question BBC director general | Jimmy Savile: MPs to question BBC director general |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| BBC director general George Entwistle will be questioned by MPs later about the corporation's handling of sexual abuse claims against Jimmy Savile. | BBC director general George Entwistle will be questioned by MPs later about the corporation's handling of sexual abuse claims against Jimmy Savile. |
| It comes a day after Newsnight editor Peter Rippon stepped aside amid an inquiry into why the programme dropped an investigation into Savile. | It comes a day after Newsnight editor Peter Rippon stepped aside amid an inquiry into why the programme dropped an investigation into Savile. |
| Earlier, Panorama aired its own investigation into the Newsnight probe. | Earlier, Panorama aired its own investigation into the Newsnight probe. |
| Karin Ward, who had been interviewed by Newsnight, told Panorama she was hurt her claims of abuse were not aired. | |
| Mr Entwistle is due to appear before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee at 10:30 BST. | Mr Entwistle is due to appear before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee at 10:30 BST. |
| He is set to be asked about a reported conversation at an awards lunch on 2 December he had with BBC director of news Helen Boaden, in which she told him about the Newsnight investigation and its possible impact on planned tributes to Savile. | |
| She is said to have told him - in his then role of director of vision - that if the Newsnight investigation went ahead he might have to change the Christmas schedules. The conversation is said to have taken "less than 10 seconds". | |
| Meanwhile, two charities set up in Savile's name are to close. The Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust and the Jimmy Savile Stoke Mandeville Hospital Trust said they had considered changing their names, but felt they would always be linked in the public's mind with the late presenter. | |
| They said all their funds would be distributed to other charities. | |
| 'Hurtful and difficult' | 'Hurtful and difficult' |
| Newsnight interviewed Ms Ward, a former pupil at Duncroft approved school for girls in Middlesex, on 14 November last year, at a time when she was ill with cancer. The interview was shown for the first time on Panorama. | |
| Ms Ward said she had been abused by Savile - and she recalled seeing Gary Glitter, now a convicted paedophile, having sexual intercourse with a girl from the school in Savile's dressing room. Glitter denies the latest allegations. | |
| She told Panorama she had been angered when her interview was not aired by Newsnight: "It was hurtful, and it was difficult because I had been pushed so hard to do it when I didn't want to... | She told Panorama she had been angered when her interview was not aired by Newsnight: "It was hurtful, and it was difficult because I had been pushed so hard to do it when I didn't want to... |
| "In the end I said OK, and for all that stress, that's what made me angry, the fact that I'd gone through all that stress when I really needed to concentrate on getting well, and then they never used it - because somebody higher up didn't believe me". | "In the end I said OK, and for all that stress, that's what made me angry, the fact that I'd gone through all that stress when I really needed to concentrate on getting well, and then they never used it - because somebody higher up didn't believe me". |
| MPs will want to ask Mr Entwistle about the decision by Newsnight's editor Peter Rippon to pull his programme's investigation into Jimmy Savile last December. | MPs will want to ask Mr Entwistle about the decision by Newsnight's editor Peter Rippon to pull his programme's investigation into Jimmy Savile last December. |
| Was he subjected to pressure from BBC managers? Was his decision affected by the knowledge that the BBC had a special tribute to Jimmy Savile scheduled over Christmas? | Was he subjected to pressure from BBC managers? Was his decision affected by the knowledge that the BBC had a special tribute to Jimmy Savile scheduled over Christmas? |
| Mr Rippon spelt out the reasons for his decision in a blog earlier this month; but former members of his team gave a rather different account to Panorama, and the BBC has now admitted that some of the details in the Rippon version of events were "inaccurate or incomplete". | Mr Rippon spelt out the reasons for his decision in a blog earlier this month; but former members of his team gave a rather different account to Panorama, and the BBC has now admitted that some of the details in the Rippon version of events were "inaccurate or incomplete". |
| So MPs may also want to ask why the BBC's managers accepted what their editor told them, rather than probing more deeply. All of these questions the BBC hopes will be answered in due course by an internal inquiry. | So MPs may also want to ask why the BBC's managers accepted what their editor told them, rather than probing more deeply. All of these questions the BBC hopes will be answered in due course by an internal inquiry. |
| But the toughest question of all for George Entwistle may be one that only he can answer. Why, when he was told in advance in his previous job as head of television that Newsnight was investigating Jimmy Savile, did he not scrap that Christmas special? | But the toughest question of all for George Entwistle may be one that only he can answer. Why, when he was told in advance in his previous job as head of television that Newsnight was investigating Jimmy Savile, did he not scrap that Christmas special? |
| Panorama reported allegations that the Top of the Pops programme was a centre of abuse - and that Savile was not the only one involved. | Panorama reported allegations that the Top of the Pops programme was a centre of abuse - and that Savile was not the only one involved. |
| Liz Dux, a lawyer for some of the victims, told Panorama: "The stories that I'm hearing from some of the victims are that they did report the abuse and that no action was taken." | Liz Dux, a lawyer for some of the victims, told Panorama: "The stories that I'm hearing from some of the victims are that they did report the abuse and that no action was taken." |
| She added: "There are some quite serious allegations that a paedophile ring was operating." | She added: "There are some quite serious allegations that a paedophile ring was operating." |
| The programme heard from a string of former BBC staff who described what they knew and what they did or did not do about it. | The programme heard from a string of former BBC staff who described what they knew and what they did or did not do about it. |
| One, ex-BBC reporter Bob Langley, said on two occasions he spotted young girls coming out of Savile's caravan. He said: "Supposing I had gone to the police or to the BBC, what would have happened? The answer is nothing would have happened. He would have said 'it was a joke, can't you take a joke?'. And that would have been it." | One, ex-BBC reporter Bob Langley, said on two occasions he spotted young girls coming out of Savile's caravan. He said: "Supposing I had gone to the police or to the BBC, what would have happened? The answer is nothing would have happened. He would have said 'it was a joke, can't you take a joke?'. And that would have been it." |
| In 2011, Newsnight was investigating claims of abuse, learned of a dropped Surrey Police inquiry into Savile in 2007 and planned an investigation for broadcast. However, editor Peter Rippon then "applied the brakes", said Panorama. | |
| Newsnight reporter Liz MacKean said: "It was an abrupt change of tone, from one day 'excellent, let's prepare to get this thing on air' to 'hold on'." | Newsnight reporter Liz MacKean said: "It was an abrupt change of tone, from one day 'excellent, let's prepare to get this thing on air' to 'hold on'." |
| Panorama said Mr Rippon's reason was that some of the women interviewed by Newsnight claimed the Crown Prosecution Service had not pressed charges because Savile was too old and frail. | Panorama said Mr Rippon's reason was that some of the women interviewed by Newsnight claimed the Crown Prosecution Service had not pressed charges because Savile was too old and frail. |
| Mr Rippon wanted this confirmed - he said in an email to Newsnight producer Meirion Jones: "Our sources so far are just the women and a second-hand briefing." | Mr Rippon wanted this confirmed - he said in an email to Newsnight producer Meirion Jones: "Our sources so far are just the women and a second-hand briefing." |
| It is now known that Mr Rippon had not watched the interview with Ms Ward. | It is now known that Mr Rippon had not watched the interview with Ms Ward. |
| A Panorama statement 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. | A Panorama statement 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." | "Panorama has found no evidence to contradict that view." |
| Earlier this month, href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/10/newsnight_and_jimmy_savile.html" >in a blog, Mr Rippon explained the editorial reasons behind his decision to axe the report. He said it was "totally untrue" he had been ordered to do it by bosses as part of a BBC cover-up. | |
| On Monday href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/10/jimmy_savile_and_newsnight_a_c.html" >the BBC issued a correction to this blog, calling it "inaccurate or incomplete in some respects". | |
| In response to the Panorama programme, a BBC spokesman said an internal inquiry it had launched, called the Pollard inquiry, was the right forum to "resolve detailed issues relating to BBC programming and the Newsnight investigation". | In response to the Panorama programme, a BBC spokesman said an internal inquiry it had launched, called the Pollard inquiry, was the right forum to "resolve detailed issues relating to BBC programming and the Newsnight investigation". |
| "Panorama has every right to pursue its programme but nothing should be done to prejudge the Pollard inquiry," he said. | "Panorama has every right to pursue its programme but nothing should be done to prejudge the Pollard inquiry," he said. |
| "We should also make it clear we now accept that the Newsnight investigation did not start out as an investigation into the Surrey police's handling of the case against Mr Savile." | |
| Meanwhile, a spokesman for former BBC director general Mark Thompson, commenting on questions put to him by the Times, said Mr Thompson was asked by a journalist at a party late last year about a Newsnight investigation into Savile - which he had until then been unaware of, he said. | Meanwhile, a spokesman for former BBC director general Mark Thompson, commenting on questions put to him by the Times, said Mr Thompson was asked by a journalist at a party late last year about a Newsnight investigation into Savile - which he had until then been unaware of, he said. |
| He later mentioned the conversation "to senior colleagues in BBC News and asked if there was a problem with the investigation" but was told it had been dropped by Newsnight for journalistic reasons. | He later mentioned the conversation "to senior colleagues in BBC News and asked if there was a problem with the investigation" but was told it had been dropped by Newsnight for journalistic reasons. |
| "The first time he became aware of the allegations that Jimmy Savile had committed serious crimes and that some of these crimes had taken place in the course of his employment at the BBC was when he heard the pre-publicity for the ITV investigation. This was after he had stepped down as director general." | "The first time he became aware of the allegations that Jimmy Savile had committed serious crimes and that some of these crimes had taken place in the course of his employment at the BBC was when he heard the pre-publicity for the ITV investigation. This was after he had stepped down as director general." |
| The Metropolitan Police has launched a criminal inquiry into the allegations against Savile. | The Metropolitan Police has launched a criminal inquiry into the allegations against Savile. |
| Police have described the former BBC presenter and DJ, who died in October 2011 aged 84, as a predatory sex offender. | Police have described the former BBC presenter and DJ, who died in October 2011 aged 84, as a predatory sex offender. |
| They believe he may have sexually abused many people, including young girls, over a 40-year period, sometimes on BBC premises. | They believe he may have sexually abused many people, including young girls, over a 40-year period, sometimes on BBC premises. |
| The Panorama programme, Jimmy Savile - What the BBC Knew, can be seen again on the BBC iPlayer |