THE BBC must undergo a radical overhaul said chairman of the BBC Trust Chris Patten yesterday.
Speaking in the wake of Saturday evening’s resignation by just-appointed George Entwistle as BBC Director General, Patten said yesterday: ‘If you’re saying, does the BBC need a thorough structural radical overhaul, then absolutely it does and that is what we will have to do.’
Entwistle’s resignation came in the wake of criticism of the November 2 Newsnight programme which led to former Tory treasurer Lord McAlpine denying that he was a child abuser and threatening to sue.
McAlpine said the claims were ‘wholly false and seriously defamatory’.
Entwistle was subjected to an ‘attack dog’ type interview by John Humphrys on Saturday’s Today programme when he was told that he should resign.
Newsnight presenter Jeremey Paxman reacted angrily to Entwistle’s resignation.
Paxman said in a statement: ‘George Entwistle’s departure is a great shame. He has been brought low by cowards and incompetents.
‘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.
‘I had hoped that George might stay to sort this out. It is a great pity that a talented man has been sacrificed while time-servers prosper.’
Labour MP and former Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said Entwistle ‘has been done a terrible injustice’.
Bradshaw said: ‘I agree with Jeremy Paxman and think this a terrible mistake.
‘George Entwistle has been grossly, grossly let down by BBC News managers and the people around him.
‘I was one of those MPs who quizzed him about the Newsnight Savile inquiry a couple of weeks ago, and we gave him a very hard time and I told him he had to get a grip.
‘I am not confident anyone else could have done a better job. Who else is going to clear up this mess?
‘He has been done a real injustice. He was only in the job for seven weeks.’
Senior BBC journalist and presenter Jonathan Dimbleby also blamed cuts which have seen 7,000 jobs go in the past decade.
He said: ‘Where did those cuts come? Not in management, but in news, which is the frontline of the defining mission of the BBC.
‘George was at the receiving end of nothing when he should have been receiving everything.’
Meanwhile, Patten said a new director general would be chosen within weeks, adding that the BBC had to ensure programmes were being properly managed, and acting director general, Tim Davie, would be given full support.
Downing Street officials said Cameron believes the BBC needs to ‘show grip’ and Patten ‘has started to make the right noises’.
