BBC chairman Chris Patten reaffirmed the broadcaster’s independence on Wednesday after the British government told it to get a grip over the Jimmy Savile child sex abuse scandal.
Patten, who was Britain’s last governor of Hong Kong before the handover to China in 1997, was responding to a letter from culture minister Maria Miller expressing concerns about the BBC’s handling of the issue.
“You know how seriously the trust takes the allegations surrounding Jimmy Savile and the need to maintain public trust in the BBC,” Patten said in his reply to Miller.
He said the minister had recognised the “credibility and the scope” of two independent inquiries set up by the BBC to probe the abuse by Savile and whether there was a cover-up at the broadcaster.
But he added: “I know that you will not want to give any impression that you are questioning the independence of the BBC.”
The BBC is the world’s largest publicly funded broadcaster, getting its money from the BBC licence fee, which every British householder must pay to watch television and listen to radio.
But it maintains its independence from the government, insisting that state-funded does not mean state-run.
In her letter on Tuesday, Miller said “very real concerns are being raised about public trust and confidence in the BBC”.
The BBC’s director general, George Entwistle, appeared before a committee of lawmakers on Tuesday to defend the broadcaster’s response to the allegations against Savile, who died at the age of 84 in October 2011.
Last year its flagship current affairs programme Newsnight dropped an investigation into the claims of widespread abuse of underage girls by Savile, but Entwistle insisted there was no editorial pressure on the programme.
The scandal has also embroiled the former director general, Mark Thompson, who is due to take over as the new CEO of leading US newspaper the New York Times in November.
The public editor of the New York Times, Margaret Sullivan, said in a blog on Tuesday that the paper must “aggressively cover” Thompson’s role in the troubles at the BBC.
“It?s worth considering now whether he is the right person for the job, given this turn of events,” she said.
BBC chairman stresses independence amid Savile furore
