The press have this morning given their verdict on the BBC’s response to the ‘chaos and confusion’ sown amongst its ranks in the wake of several recent blunders, the failure to out one of their biggest stars as a paeodophile and falsely accusing a Conservative peer of the same crime.
The guardian, described the affair as the BBC’s own ‘Rocky Horror Show’ that painted “a picture of modern dysfunction worthy of Francis Bacon's Screaming Pope.”
In their editorial the paper noted: “Warring barons who kept crucial information to themselves, rigid management chains, and a director general in George Entwistle who lacked the means and the will to kick down departmental doors, combined to create chaos and confusion. In one telling moment, Stephen Mitchell, the deputy director of news, could offer "no convincing explanation" why he took the Newsnight programme off a list intended to flag up to management some element of reputational risk.
“If the BBC acted swiftly in replacing Peter Rippon, Newsnight's editor, shifting Helen Boaden, the director of news, and announcing the retirement of her deputy, Mr Mitchell, one can only conclude it has taken a long time to clear the decks.”
If that was in the guardian then you may well imagine that the contents of the right wing press would make for even more excruciating reading for beeb bosses. And you’d be right. The Telegraph observed that the organisation had ‘failed to sack a single executive’ despite the damning nature of two reports set up in the wake of both scandals.
It was left to arch-BBC baiters in chief the Daily Mail to really stick the boot in, screaming in their headline: “Chaos and incompetence at BBC over Savile scandal - yet STILL nobody gets the sack.”
The paper said it was ’incredible’ that despite the ‘excorciating’ reports, not a single boss was forced from their post. Commenting on the McAlpine report – based on an internal investigation by Ken MacQuarrie, director of BBC Scotland, – the paper noted: “A second report into the botched Newsnight investigation didn't recommend any sackings, despite 'basic checks' being ignored
“It also failed to identify all those who ‘signed off’ the report for broadcast, causing one of the worst mistakes in modern journalism. There is no attempt to explain, for example, why the BBC’s highly paid army of lawyers failed to stop the damaging report being aired.”