BBC boss: Didn’t Know
by Richard Lutz
This week Channel 4 News doorstepped the former BBC boss Mark Thompson and rattled him by continually asking how much he knew about the appalling Jimmy Savile (sorry… Sir Jimmy Savile) case.
Once again as he batted back searching questions about what he knew and didn’t know about the predatory creep, it became apparent that BBC bosses are simply hiding the truth.
Let me take you back…back to the late 1970’s. I was earning my young chops, carving a career as a reporter for the daily newspaper on Tyneside-The Newcastle Journal.
Savile, in his guise as a charity hero, was to appear at one of the city’s big hospitals. A young woman reporter was tasked to go. She balked.’He’s all over the place.’ she said. Everyone knew what she meant.
He was a predatory weird male and the newsroom storytellers regaled anyone passing about Sir Jimmy’s little drives in his big limo with 15 year old girls.
That anecdote comes from pre-1980. Thirty years ago. It comes from 250 miles north of London’s metro land and the BBC’s HQ..
If the hacks in a northern city all knew tales of Savile’s attacks, how come a highly experienced media boss who came up through the news divisions didn’t know. Or failed to know.
M’lord, I simply put it to the court and let it lie.
Savile you see, unfortunately, won’t go away.
It is not about this dead weirdo anymore. It is about the deceit that BBC bosses (and the national media for that matter) wrapped itself around in order to placate a very powerful public character. I am sure if the clown worked for ITV or Sky, those bosses would have turned a blind eye also to the sordid Savile crimes also.
This week’s street interview with a jittery Thompson shows that bigshot media kings think they are blessed with a certain sort of privilege that puts them above morality, above ethics and above the law.
If intelligent, sophisticated men and women knew about Savile (and believe me, they did), why didn’t they go to the police instead of chucking banknotes at him for his ludicrous shows?
After all, if a bunch of reporters in Tyneside knew about the tv presenter, how could it be an unknown fact in big time tv centres?
Savile won’t go away.