BBC's Big Scandal

[Jess 1110]

So this is a huge story overseas that hasn't really made it over here just yet, but the most prestigious news operation in the world - that would be the BBC - is currently in the midst of an unprecedented sexual abuse scandal. Think Jerry Sandusky and Penn State, and multiply that by a magnitude of 10, and you get the idea of how big this is.

 

What happened is this. A man named Jimmy Savile, who died roughly around a year ago, was one of the BBC's top on-air presenters, hosting music show Top Of The Pops and a wish-fulfillment series called Jim'll Fix It. He was, arguably, one of Britain's most beloved celebrities, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and was prolific in helping out young children.

 

It's now emerging that Savile was also a predatory child sex offender who acted on a scale that, honestly, makes what Jerry Sandusky did look like a misdemeanor. There are - and I am not making these numbers up - potentially over 200 victims, male and (mostly) female, dating from 1959 to 2008. Some of these offences allegedly happened at BBC studios. Incredibly, many of these victims came from, essentially, a reform school for troubled children. This is, literally, a huge failure not only of one institution, but several. And there may be more - there are reports that convicted paedophile Gary Glitter did some of his deeds in Savile's dressing room (in front of an audience), and even reports of a paedophilia ring within the BBC. This is looking like the tip of an iceberg.

 

Not only that, but it's looking increasingly like the BBC had known about the allegations and did nothing. In fact, they did worse than nothing. Their highly regarded nightly newsmagazine, Newsnight, was preparing an investigation into Savile's alleged abuse in November 2011. The investigation was ultimately scrapped, and it's increasingly looking like it was spiked at the highest levels of the Beeb, possibly even by the director of the corporation itself. Not coincidentally, the BBC broadcast three tribute shows over the Christmas period. At the very least, this whole scandal happened because they didn't want to wreck the Christmas schedule! (In the UK, the Christmas-New Years period is traditionally when the broadcasters air some of their biggest programming. For example, the big Doctor Who specials where The Doctor regenerates from David Tennant to Matt Smith. Needless to say we don't do that here.)

 

Worse, they've pretty much changed their story - at first, management maintained that they didn't know, and the editor (executive producer) of Newsnight posted a blog entry saying that he spiked the story because it couldn't be substantiated. Today, the BBC is admitting that this account is inaccurate and incomplete. Rippon has also "stepped aside" from his position - take that however you will.

 

Paradoxically, however, at the same time we've seen the BBC at its worst, we're also seeing the BBC at its finest.

 

Tonight, an hour-long investigative piece all-but-crucifying the BBC... aired on the BBC. Yes - the BBC aired a piece attacking itself on its main channel. And they didn't pull any punches - I'm watching the documentary now, and it is absolutely scathing. Prominent BBC journalists If that sounds unprecedented, that's because it pretty much is. Can you imagine any of the news organizations here holding itself accountable in that way? I honestly doubt it. I've always held the BBC in such high regard because they truly do seem independent in a way that some of the domestic news operations don't. This is an example of that.

 

What the management did over the years is disgusting. I don't doubt that. Yet I've never been prouder of the journalists and the journalism from the BBC as I am now.