[BITList] savile scandal inquiries

[x50type]

bloody hell – bbc money no object. 

and how come bbc execs waltzed off with millions of pounds [contractual obligations!].

Entwistle 54 days on the job – half million pounds?

its almost as crazy as the USA!

ct



BBC reveals £5m spent on Savile inquiriesCOMMENTS (593) 
Lord Hall: BBC report is 'grim reading' in places
Continue reading the main story 
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The BBC has spent around £5m on three inquiries set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The corporation's annual report revealed the Pollard Review, which looked into Newsnight's dropped investigation into Savile, cost £2.8m.

BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten said the organisation was determined to learn lessons from the past year.

Director general Tony Hall admitted the BBC was not the "steward of public money" it should have been.

Lord Hall, who started in the job four months ago, said further steps were needed to ensure the BBC was better run and more efficient.

Continue reading the main story 
Analysis
David Sillito
Media Correspondent
A year of "some incredible highs and some desperate lows" was the verdict of the BBC's chairman, Lord Patten.

The most notable high was the Olympics watched by 90% of the population. It is the lows, however, that have dominated the headlines.

The crisis surrounding Jimmy Savile, the executive pay-offs, and the £98m loss on the failed DMI technology project cast a gloom over this year's annual report.

Trust in the BBC did take a knock but appears to be recovering, though it's not back to where it was a year ago.

But when you dig into the report the public's views of the corporation is not the same as its views of the programmes.

Figures that record appreciation of the output have risen again this year from 82.6 to 83.1, Top Gear has become the world's most watched factual programme, Dr Who is now seen in more than 200 territories.

The BBC is also promising cultural change in the way it is managed, trying to make it less bureaucratic. New management may be interesting for the BBC's staff but for the public, the announcement that Mishal Husain will be joining Radio 4's Today Programme will probably be more interesting.

The BBC has long said it wanted more women to present on the Today Programme. It's getting there, eventually.
The breakdown of the costs of the Pollard Review showed that the £2.1m (excluding tax) costs included £893,500 to lawyers Reed Smith and £492,436 for the BBC's "external legal support".

In addition, witnesses' legal costs totalled £391,120. This included £101,000 to cover the "legal and related costs" of Helen Boaden, who was moved from her position as head of news after she was criticised in the report.

Former director general Mark Thompson, who left the BBC last year, received £86,000 in legal costs.

The Pollard Review was set up by the BBC to decide if there were management failings over Newsnight's axed Savile investigation in 2011.
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