BBC Editor 'Steps Aside' Over Savile Scandal

The Newsnight editor who dropped an investigation into claims Sir Jimmy Savile sexually abused people "is stepping aside", the BBC says.

Peter Rippon, who says he dropped the report for editorial reasons, will leave his role with "immediate effect" while an independent review into the BBC's treatment of the Savile crisis is carried out.

The corporation has also published corrections to a blog post by Mr Rippon, which had aimed to explain his decision to drop the programme's investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by the late presenter.

In a statement the BBC described the inaccuracies as "deeply concerning".

It says: "It is apparent from information supplied by the Newsnight editor and programme team - that the explanation in a blog by the editor of his decision to drop the programme's investigation is inaccurate or incomplete in some respects."

It says that while the blog had said that Newsnight had no evidence against the BBC, there were some allegations of abusive conduct on BBC premises.

The blog also claimed that all the women spoken to by the programme had contacted the police and that Newsnight had no new evidence against that would have helped the police. But the BBC now says that in some cases women had not spoken to the police and that the police were not aware of all the allegations.

Questions over how director-general George Entwistle has handled the crisis

Prime Minister David Cameron has called the developments "disturbing".

He said: "The nation is appalled, we're all appalled, by the allegations of what Jimmy Savile did and they seem to get worse by the day.

"The developments today are concerning because the BBC has effectively changed its story about why it dropped the Newsnight programme about Jimmy Savile."

The BBC is said to be facing "its worst crisis for 50 years", as a documentary lifts the lid on the extent to which senior managers of the corporation were aware of the Sir Jimmy Savile abuse claims.

A special edition of Panorama reveals fresh evidence about what the BBC knew of Savile's decades of child abuse and its investigation into why Newsnight spiked its probe into the scandal, sparking allegations of a cover-up.

The BBC flagship programme, which airs tonight, examines why corporation chiefs - including the director-general - gave different explanations why Newsnight was dropped and what it was about.

Mr Rippon maintains the piece - which was due to run last December - was pulled for editorial reasons, and not because the potentially damaging revelations coincided with a planned tribute to the star.

But the hour-long documentary will hear from Newsnight producer Meirion Jones and reporter Liz MacKean, who both claim they had interviewed at least four alleged victims of Savile - and confirmed with Surrey Police that officers had investigated sex abuse complaints against the Jim'll Fix It star in 2007.

Police say they have identified more than 200 potential victims

The journalists say that, when they told bosses the Crown Prosecution Service did not charge Savile because of insufficient evidence, they were told to end the investigation - and the show was withdrawn.

BBC director-general George Entwistle said it would be "inappropriate" for him to comment ahead of the broadcast, as he has not yet seen the programme. He added: "There will be a BBC statement later this morning touching upon some of the issues raised".

The programme also calls into question Mr Entwistle's handling of the crisis in the days after it broke.

On October 5, Mr Entwistle wrote an email to all staff saying "the BBC Newsnight programme investigated Surrey Police's enquiry into Jimmy Savile towards the end of 2011".

But Meirion Jones sent an email reply to Mr Entwistle on the same day taking issue with his account.

He wrote: "George - one note - the investigation was into whether Jimmy Savile was a paedophile - I know because it was my investigation. We didn't know that Surrey Police had investigated Jimmy Savile - no-one did - that was what we found when we investigated and interviewed his victims."

The abuse stories about Savile only fully emerged after ITV broadcast a documentary at the start of this month - sparking controversy at the BBC over losing its scoop and leading to the cover-up allegations.

John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which will take evidence from Mr Entwistle on Tuesday, said they would want to know why he did not seek more information about the Newsnight investigation.

"If you were the director of vision, you were told at the time you were commissioning programmes paying tribute to Jimmy Savile that Newsnight might be about to reveal a bombshell, you wouldn't just have a 10-second conversation.

"You'd say 'Tell me more, I'm about to go public putting out these programmes making out that Jimmy Savile was this saint'," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Mr Whittingdale said the most important question was why the Newsnight segment was dropped.

He told Sky News: "Whilst Panorama say there is no evidence the editor was leant on from outside, the explanations originally given look very thin today."

Panorama said it has failed to find evidence of a "BBC cover-up" over the Newsnight decision.

In a statement, the programme said: "Peter Rippon has always maintained the story was pulled for 'editorial reasons' and not because of a potentially embarrassing clash with planned BBC tributes to Savile over Christmas.

"Panorama has found no evidence to contradict that view."

But the corporation's veteran foreign affairs editor John Simpson said of the fallout: "This is the worst crisis that I can remember in my nearly 50 years at the BBC. I don't think the BBC has handled it terribly well.

"I mean I think it's better to just come out right at the start and say we're going to open everything up and then we're going to show everybody everything.

"All we have as an organisation is the trust of the people the people that watch us and listen to us and, if we don't have that, if we start to lose that, that's very dangerous I think for the BBC."

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