The BBC and Jimmy Savile

The questions about the Jimmy Savile affair seems to have changed from "How was he able to do it"  to "Why was a Newsnight Programme dropped". The Media Select committee yesterday seemed to concentrate all its efforts into finding out from George Entwistle who cancelled the Newsnight programme about Savile. The recent Panorama programme did exactly the same. Why? Whilst the cancellation of the programme is of interest, it seems to be diverting attention from the main issue, which is to find out how Savile was allowed to get away with his perverted behaviour for so long.

The main thing that has come to light in this new investigation is that the BBC seems to have a huge unwieldy, dysfunctional management structure with nobody having an overall picture of what was going on. The attitude that one mustn't ask questions because they could be construed as interfering with editorial independence is total rubbish. It is the job of the man at the top to have a very good idea of what is going on, even if he has no wish to interfere.
What has been revealed is the large number of layers in the BBC's management structure, seemingly with no clear-cut reporting arrangements. This, as anyone with even the most basic management experience will know, is a recipe for total disaster. Any business must be able to hold people to account and know who made what decisions and when they made them..

An MP, Sir Roger Gale, is reported in the Telegraph, to have said that Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, and George Entwistle, the BBC director-general, may have to “fall on their swords.”
I would agree with this; In my view Entwistle may have been an effective "Head of Vision", but as DG, he has been promoted to his level of incompetence with no idea how to run a multi-faceted organisation. But then as Head of Vision, one might reasonably ask, why didn't he know what was going on with Savile over the years.

Yes, it is time for a huge shake up at the BBC so as to remove several tiers from the management structure and provide clear lines of responsibility.