BBC News – BBC needs 'radical overhaul', says Lord Patten

BBC News – BBC needs ‘radical overhaul’, says Lord Patten.

Today, after the Director General, Mr George Entwhistle resigned yesterday due to failing at the Newsnight program, Lord Patten did the rounds to try and rebuild the lack of trust generated at the BBC because of the Newsnight report into child abuse report in North Wales Children Homes.

Now I have to say that though the allegations were wholly inaccurate and very disturbing, but I do not feel there is such a lack of trust at the BBC and their journalism. I have always believed and known that in the mien, the BBC is second to none in what it reports and how the reports are collaborated. Like with all large institutions there can be failings in how the reports and investigative journalism is conducted, it’s unfortunately human error. And, I understand that the report on the 2nd November was a serious and very damaging allegation. But I note that the failing is in what the witness had accepted as the true identity of the abuser, as shown by the photograph given to him by the police, whom they indicated was Lord McAlpine. Not by the Newsnight program reporting that sexual abuse had been conducted at the children’s home. Tom Watson has indicated hat there was some sort of paedophile-ring within the senior circles of a Tory Government, and it could well be that this person was abused by a senior Tory politician, he has just been mistaken as to who it was.

For me, this whole issue comes down to the mismanagement of the police, and Waterhouse inquiry that followed, into the abuse at these children’s homes that should be looked into, which this report clearly highlights. Indeed, the Home Secretary has called for reviews and investigations into these issues. This would not have come about if Newsnight had not broadcast the child abuse report. So I feel that although Mr Entwhistle should have been made aware of the report and made certain that the reporters had done due diligence in making sure the report was correct and up to scrutiny, I do not believe this shows as massive failing in trust into the BBC NEWS and its journalistic competence.

This all smacks of ‘political’ smearing and cover-up to discredited the BBC, rather than getting to the root of the report and the police and Waterhouse failing into such a horrendous series of allegations of child abuse in the 70′ and 80’s. We need to have a proper and clean investigation into what happened, including the Jimmy Saville affair, not just at the BBC, but mainly over what the police knew and did not know, what the politicians were involved and if the original enquiry into the allegations went far enough to uncover the scale of the abuse.

I have no issues with trust and credibility with the BBC and with BBC journalism, I do have with the police and politicians.