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BBC chief quits after saying TV report was wrong

 
Tampa Bay Times
Published Nov. 11, 2012

LONDON — The BBC's top executive resigned Saturday night after the prestigious broadcaster's marquee news magazine wrongly implicated a British politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, deepening the crisis that exploded after it decided not to air similar allegations against one of its own stars who police now say was one of the nation's worst pedophiles.

In a brief statement outside BBC headquarters, George Entwistle said he decided to do the "honorable thing" and step down after just eight weeks in the job.

"The wholly exceptional events of the past few weeks have led me to conclude that the BBC should appoint a new leader," he said.

It was a rapid about-face for Entwistle, a 23-year BBC veteran who earlier Saturday had insisted he had no plans to resign.

John Whittingdale, chairman of Britain's Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said Entwistle had no choice but to go, as the BBC's management appears to have "lost their grip" on the organization.

Entwistle assumed the mantle as head of the BBC two months ago from Mark Thompson, who will become chief executive of the New York Times Co. this month.

A month into the job, the BBC was thrown into crisis with allegations that Jimmy Savile, the renowned BBC TV host who died last year, sexually abused up to several hundred children — some of them on BBC premises — and the revelation that the BBC's own Newsnight investigative program had shelved an investigation into the allegations.

The furor was reignited when the same program aired a report on Nov. 2 about alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure.

The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, McAlpine issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue.

Messham then said he had been mistaken about his abuser's identity and apologized to McAlpine, prompting fury over the BBC's decision to air the report, the suspension of investigative programs at Newsnight and mounting questions over Entwistle's leadership.