BBC denies Alan Yentob influenced Newsnight's Kids Company report
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Version 0 of 1. The BBC has denied that Alan Yentob tried to influence a Newsnight report into scandal-hit charity Kids Company, of which he is the chairman. Yentob, the BBC’s creative director, allegedly called Newsnight staff hours ahead of the broadcast of its probe into Kids Company to “influence the direction” of the report, according to the Daily Mail. “The fact that BBC broke this story shows that our journalism has been impartial and in the public interest,” said a spokeswoman. Yentob subsequently joined embattled Kids Company chief executive, Camila Batmanghelidjh, at the studios of Radio 4’s Today programme when she was interviewed following the Newsnight report. The BBC denied that Yentob has displayed a conflict of interest, and said that he is free to comment on the activities of Kids Company. “We are not going to comment on gossip but everyone knows that Alan Yentob is the creative director of the BBC and doesn’t have any editorial control over BBC News,” said the spokeswoman. “He is chair of Kids Company and can speak to media outlets about issues related to them.” Batmanghelidjh is to stand down as chief executive by 31 October. Kids Company is said to have told ministers that it will close, just days after it received a £3m grant from the government. Ministers agreed to give the extra cash to help restructure the charity despite objections from a senior civil servant who warned they did not think it would be “value for money”. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said “there have been questions raised about some of the financial management of the organisation” but stressed the charity has done important work for troubled children. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s a great shame that it doesn’t seem to be working in the way that I think everybody who supports the idea would like. “What I want to happen is to ensure that all the kids who’ve been receiving care and attention from Camila and her team will have some kind of safety net.” |