Entwistle quits as director general over Newsnight fiasco

[dutchman]

The BBC’S director-general has dramatically quit over the corporation’s smearing of an innocent politician as a paedophile.



George Entwistle said his position was untenable after a day of humiliation in which he admitted knowing nothing of a Newsnight investigation which led to Lord McAlpine being falsely named as a child abuser - and nothing of it unravelling.

He has lasted just 54 days in the job. Mr Entwistle’s decision plunges the BBC into its deepest-ever crisis and leaves it leaderless at a time of mounting questions over its journalism.

The director-general was dealt the final blow when Lord Patten was directly challenged to issue a vote of confidence earlier tonight - and refused.

Mr Entwistle, 50, had to accept responsibility for blunder after blunder which culminated in an interview with John Humphrys on the Today programme this morning in which he admitted to being completely ignorant that Newsnight was going to effectively accuse Lord McAlpine of child abuse, and then did not read newspapers which revealed that the story was entirely false.

Lord Patten, who appointed Mr Entwistle, was fighting for his own future tonight in the face a staff revolt over the fiasco, which started with the failure of Newsnight to run an investigation which showed that Jimmy Savile was a serial child abuser.

[dutchman]

Jeremy Paxman speaks out over George Entwistle's BBC resignation



Jeremy Paxman has suggested that George Entwistle, who resigned as Director-General of the BBC this evening, was scapegoated by staff.

Releasing a statement swiftly after Entwistle's departure was announced, Paxman has also predicted that the corporation's editorial problems are spread beyond Newsnight.

Jeremy Paxman believes that the 2003 Hutton Inquiry, which strongly criticised the BBC for leaking quotations from Dr David Kelly, has increased the role of middle management at the expense of programme-making.

"George Entwistle's departure is a great shame. He has been brought low by cowards and incompetents," he said.

"The real problem here is the BBC's decision, in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry, to play safe by appointing biddable people."

"They then compounded the problem by enforcing a series of cuts on programme budgets, while bloating the management.

"That is how you arrive at the current mess on Newsnight. I very much doubt the problem is unique to that programme."

Defending Entwistle's integrity, Paxman added: "I had hoped that George might stay to sort this out. It is a great pity that a talented man has been sacrificed."

The 62-year-old finally stated that "while time-servers prosper", he would "not be issuing any further statements or doing any interviews".

[rebbonk]

For once, I'll openly agree with Paxman. Though to be fair, Entwistle hasn't exactly helped himself very much.

[dutchman]

The whole organisation is rotten to the core. It's the reason Michael Parkinson left, it's the reason Chris Eccleston quit as Dr Who, it's the reason why Julian Fellowes wrote Downton Abbey for ITV instead of the BBC, it's the reason why Primeval was picked up by ITV and ignored by the BBC.

What's needed is for someone from outside the cosy little world of journalism and broadcasting to take over the BBC and wield the axe against its bloated middle-management without mercy.

[rebbonk]

Source : DAILY MAIL

[dutchman]

His total payoff is more like £1.3million when his gold-plated pension pot is taken into account.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... y-off.html

Pretty sickening for those on low incomes struggling to pay the £145.50 annual licence fee.

[rebbonk]

This rather rubs it in....



source : DAILY TELEGRAPH

[dutchman]

BBC Slammed Over George Entwistle Payoff



The BBC has been criticised over its decision to award a former director-general a payoff of £450,000 - double what he would have received had he resigned voluntarily - less than two months after he started.

George Entwistle resigned after just fifty four days in the job, following widespread criticism of his handling of the aftermath of the Newsnight Jimmy Savile investigation.

He received the bumper payoff in order to speed up his departure from the broadcaster.

But a report from the Commons' Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the BBC of "cavalier" spending of public money, and said it was "out of line both with public expectations and what is considered acceptable elsewhere in the public sector".

The committee also criticised the payoffs given to ten other senior managers. Former deputy director-general Mark Byford got £949,000 on his departure.

And former Chief Operating Officer Caroline Thomson received £670,000 when she left earlier this year.

During a PAC session, MPs claimed that she had been awarded the money partly as "compensation" after she missed out on the job of director General.

Describing the severance payments as "excessively generous" the committee's report also highlights their concern that the BBC Trust, which agreed Mr Entwistle's package, turned down an offer from the National Audit Office to examine the deal on his departure.

PAC chairman Margaret Hodge said: "This cavalier use of public money is out of line with public expectations and what is considered acceptable elsewhere in the public sector."

The committee raised further concerns about the use of public money to provide private health care for senior BBC staff.

Ms Hodge said: "The BBC's generosity with severance packages goes beyond the one awarded to George Entwistle. Since 2010, over £4m in total has been made in severance payments to 10 other departing senior managers.

"The BBC is also providing 422 senior managers with private medical cover as part of their remuneration packages.

"We have asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to include in his 2013 programme of work on the BBC an examination of severance payments and benefits for senior managers."