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Jimmy Savile: BBC director general defends response Jimmy Savile: BBC regrets dropped Newsnight investigation
(35 minutes later)
  
Director general George Entwistle has defended the BBC's response to the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal, but accepted it raised questions of trust. A Newsnight investigation into sexual abuse claims against Jimmy Savile should not have been dropped, the BBC's director general has told MPs.
He told the Commons culture committee that since the "very, very grave" claims had emerged, "we have done much of what we should have done". But George Entwistle told the Commons culture committee he did not believe management pressure had led to a report on the former presenter being shelved.
A past "cultural problem" at the BBC had allowed abuse by the presenter. He said he has asked Newsnight's editor to step aside amid an inquiry.
He also said the BBC was investigating five to 10 "serious allegations" involving past and present employees. He also said the BBC was investigating up to 10 "serious allegations" involving past and present employees.
"There is no question that what Jimmy Savile did and the way the BBC behaved in the years - the culture and practices of the BBC seems to allow Jimmy Savile to do what he did - will raise questions of trust for us and reputation for us," he told the Commons culture, media and sport select committee. In a two-hour appearance before the committee, Mr Entwistle said a "broader cultural problem" at the BBC in the past had allowed the abuse by Savile, who regularly appeared on British TV in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
"There is no question that what Jimmy Savile did and the way the BBC behaved in the years - the culture and practices of the BBC seems to allow Jimmy Savile to do what he did - will raise questions of trust for us and reputation for us," he told the committee.
"This is a gravely serious matter and one cannot look back at it with anything other than horror, frankly, that... his activities went on as long as they did undetected.""This is a gravely serious matter and one cannot look back at it with anything other than horror, frankly, that... his activities went on as long as they did undetected."
Police have described Savile, who was also a DJ and died last year aged 84, as a predatory sex offender, and believe he may have abused many people, including young girls, over a 40-year period. Two hours of relentlessly hostile questioning awaited George Entwistle, who was on the back foot from the start, looking uncomfortable when asked about current sexual harassment complaints in the BBC.
The director general clearly had no intention of defending the Newsnight editor's decision to drop the investigation into Savile, saying it should have gone ahead.
Most awkward for him was why tributes were aired when he knew Newsnight was investigating Savile. He was accused of a lack of curiosity for not asking more questions.
MPs were incredulous as they heard details of the corporation's management structure.
There was however a slight sense that the wrong witness was being questioned today and MPs needed to hear Peter Rippon's side of the story.
Police have described Savile, who was also a DJ and died last year aged 84, as a predatory sex offender, and believe he may have abused many people - including young girls - over a 40-year period.
A criminal investigation is under way.A criminal investigation is under way.
Mr Entwistle said: "I'm not sure in the 60s and 70s... they [staff] would have felt there was anything they could do" about sexual harassment. On Monday, the href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nspvr/Panorama_Jimmy_Savile_What_the_BBC_Knew/" >BBC's Panorama programme reported on the abuse allegations as well as the decision by Newsnight last December to drop its investigations into the claims.
Nowadays BBC staff "know where to go" over harassment complaints, he added. Mr Entwistle said that having seen the Panorama broadcast, he believed the Newsnight investigation should have been allowed to continue.
But, on sexual discrimination within the corporation, Mr Entwistle said: "I believe the culture has changed at the BBC but I am not convinced that it has changed as much as it should have." "I came away from Panorama firmly of the view that that investigation, even if in the judgement of the editor it wasn't ready for transmission at the point he was looking at it, should have been allowed to continue," he said.
On Monday, href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nspvr/Panorama_Jimmy_Savile_What_the_BBC_Knew/" >BBC Panorama reported on the abuse allegations and an earlier BBC Newsnight investigation into Savile that was dropped last December. Asked whether there had been pressure from management on Newsnight to drop its Savile investigation, Mr Entwistle said there was no evidence of this and denied any BBC cover-up of the allegations against one of the corporation's former stars.
Mr Entwistle said that, after seeing the Panorama broadcast, he believed the investigation by Newsnight into Savile should have been allowed to continue. He said Newsnight editor Peter Rippon had become convinced that examining whether police had failed properly to investigate Savile was crucial to airing the Newsnight report, and "no external pressure" had been required to come to that conclusion.
"I came away from Panorama firmly of the view that that investigation, even if in the judgement of the editor it wasn't ready for transmission at the point he was looking at it, should have been allowed to continue."
Newsnight editor Peter Rippon has stepped aside amid an independent inquiry - led by former Sky head of news Nick Pollard - into why the programme dropped its investigation.
Asked whether there was pressure from BBC management on Newsnight to drop its Savile investigation, Mr Entwistle said he had not asked Mr Rippon about any conversations on the investigation with more senior staff.
The director general said it was a matter of "regret and embarrassment" that Mr Rippon's original blog post about the dropping of the report had been inaccurate.
But he told MPs that he believed, "to the best of the evidence we have been able to assemble", the explanation now being offered by the BBC for the dropping of the Newsnight report was accurate.
Christmas schedule
"What became clear to us after the blog was published was that what had happened on Newsnight, there was a significant, it seemed, difference of opinion between the people working on the investigation and the editor, Peter Rippon, who commissioned the investigation."
Earlier this month, in a blog, Mr Rippon explained the editorial reasons behind his decision to axe the Newsnight 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 the BBC issued a correction to some specific elements of the blog, calling it "inaccurate or incomplete in some respects", although it did not suggest he had been put under pressure to drop the report.
Mr Entwistle said Mr Rippon had become convinced that examining whether the police had failed to properly investigate Savile was crucial to airing the Newsnight report, and "no external pressure" was required to come to that conclusion, says Mr Entwistle.
Mr Rippon had made the decision to drop the Newsnight investigation "on his own account", said the director general.Mr Rippon had made the decision to drop the Newsnight investigation "on his own account", said the director general.
Mr Entwistle said he had asked Mr Rippon to step aside because of inaccuracies in his blog and to give him a chance to prepare properly for the Pollard Review. Mr Entwistle said he had asked Mr Rippon to step aside because of inaccuracies in href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/10/newsnight_and_jimmy_savile.html" >a blog earlier this month explaining the editorial reasons behind the axing of the Savile report.
Mr Entwistle went on to say that the Panorama programme pointed to the BBC's health as a media organisation, rather than being a "symptom of chaos", because it showed the organisation's capacity to investigate itself. 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 some specific elements of the blog, calling it "inaccurate or incomplete in some respects", and the director general told MPs this was a matter of "regret and embarrassment".
He said no other news organisation in the world would do this. But he said that he believed, "to the best of the evidence we have been able to assemble", the explanation now being offered for the dropping of the Newsnight report was accurate.
Mr Entwistle was asked about a brief conversation with BBC director of news Helen Boaden last December about the possibility of Newsnight running a report about Savile, while Mr Entwistle, as then BBC director of Vision, was planning a tribute piece to the presenter on Boxing Day. "What became clear to us after the blog was published was that what had happened on Newsnight, there was a significant, it seemed, difference of opinion between the people working on the investigation and the editor, Peter Rippon, who commissioned the investigation," Mr Entwistle said.
An independent inquiry led by former Sky head of news Nick Pollard will examine why the Newsnight investigation was dropped.
Christmas schedule
Mr Entwistle was asked about a brief conversation with BBC director of news Helen Boaden last December about the possibility of Newsnight running their report about Savile, while Mr Entwistle, as then BBC director of Vision, was planning Christmas tribute pieces to the presenter.
"The key message I took away was that it wasn't yet clear to Helen whether it was going to stand up or not," he said."The key message I took away was that it wasn't yet clear to Helen whether it was going to stand up or not," he said.
"I wouldn't have had any qualms about making any changes we needed to make to the Christmas schedule.""I wouldn't have had any qualms about making any changes we needed to make to the Christmas schedule."
When asked if it had been a failure by him to ask further questions about the nature of the report, he said he didn't want to show "undue interest", adding: "I don't believe I did fail... the system as a whole doesn't seem to have got this right."When asked if it had been a failure by him to ask further questions about the nature of the report, he said he didn't want to show "undue interest", adding: "I don't believe I did fail... the system as a whole doesn't seem to have got this right."
Asked whether he now regretted running the tribute programmes for Savile, Mr Entwistle told MPs: "In the light of what's happening, of course I do."
He added that the Panorama programme pointed to the BBC's health as a media organisation, rather than being a "symptom of chaos", because it showed the organisation's capacity to investigate itself.
He said no other news organisation in the world would do this.
As well as the Pollard review, former Court of Appeal judge Dame Janet Smith will lead a review into the culture and practices of the BBC during Savile's time at the corporation and will also examine if the BBC's child protection and whistleblowing policies are fit for purpose.As well as the Pollard review, former Court of Appeal judge Dame Janet Smith will lead a review into the culture and practices of the BBC during Savile's time at the corporation and will also examine if the BBC's child protection and whistleblowing policies are fit for purpose.
She has said she expects to start work on Monday.She has said she expects to start work on Monday.
Mr Entwistle said that nowadays BBC staff would "know where to go" over sexual harassment complaints.
"I'm not sure in the 60s and 70s... they would have felt there was anything they could do," he said.
But, on sexual discrimination within the corporation, Mr Entwistle said: "I believe the culture has changed at the BBC but I am not convinced that it has changed as much as it should have."
The Panorama programme, Jimmy Savile - What the BBC Knew, can be seen again on the BBC iPlayer.The Panorama programme, Jimmy Savile - What the BBC Knew, can be seen again on the BBC iPlayer.