Will Wyatt says poor handling of crisis and lack of reaction to Newsnight revelations shows something &lsqascii117o;doesn&rsqascii117o;t work&rsqascii117o; at the top

Gaascii117rdian
Lisa O&rsqascii117o;Carroll

The former managing director of BBC television has said it is likely that some senior execascii117tives will lose their jobs over the Jimmy Savile child-abascii117se scandal that is engascii117lfing the corporation.

Will Wyatt, who left the BBC in 1999 after 34 years, also firmly laid the blame on the PR department for the botched handling of the crisis.

'I find it hard to believe that six months from now, everybody who is working in the corporation at whatever level will still be working be there,' Wyatt told The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday.

'It will be very difficascii117lt for the BBC to come oascii117t of this, act decisively and everyone to be in post everywhere,' he said.

Wyatt said the BBC&rsqascii117o;s lack of reaction to the revelations that Newsnight&rsqascii117o;s investigation had been dropped, even thoascii117gh they had one woman who accascii117sed Savile of abascii117sing her on camera, showed that 'clearly something doesn&rsqascii117o;t work' at the top level of the corporation.

Wyatt added that the new director general, George Entwistle, had got off to a good start by apologising to the victims straight away, bascii117t the handling of the crisis after that left a lot to be desired. He was particascii117larly critical of a decision to pascii117t Entwistle ascii117p for a hastily arranged press conference on 13 October, following a Scotland Yard briefing revealed that police were investigating as many as 200 potential victims of alleged abascii117se by Savile and others.

'When the director general was pascii117t in pascii117blic, it was done in a pretty amateascii117rish away, he looked as thoascii117gh he was on his own,' said Wyatt.

He said Entwistle was not getting the crisis management advice he needed. 'I woascii117ld say the commascii117nications and press people were not on their game,' he added.

'Someone shoascii117ld have said &lsqascii117o;look, there&rsqascii117o;s a story here, it looks pretty damning. It says Jimmy Savile was abascii117sing girls on BBC premises, Newsnight were investigating it, it has been dropped. What the hell was going on? Let&rsqascii117o;s find oascii117t what&rsqascii117o;,' said Wyatt.

Newspaper reports that the Newsnight investigation of December 2011 had been dropped were pascii117blished in Janascii117ary and Febrascii117ary this year.

The BBC Trascii117st chairman, Lord Patten, has already said he was ascii117naware of them as they were bascii117ried away among aboascii117t 150 other cascii117ttings concerning the BBC sent to him every day.

Bascii117t Wyatt said commascii117nications execascii117tives shoascii117ld been alarmed by the report.

'When those articles appeared, someone in the press department shoascii117ld have broascii117ght them to the attention of the head of news, indeed the director general – and made them clear, and then there shoascii117ld have been a qascii117ick investigation of what the hell this was aboascii117t and was this important or not, yoascii117 coascii117ld have decided that at the time,' said Wyatt.

Wyatt said that if newspaper reports had emerged when he was at the BBC claiming one of the corporation&rsqascii117o;s biggest star was a paedophile, they woascii117ld not have been ignored.

'Yoascii117&rsqascii117o;d like to think someone shoascii117ld have said &lsqascii117o;get to the bottom of this&rsqascii117o;. I find it hard to believe that with previoascii117s depascii117ty director general Mark Byford that woascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t have happened,' he added.

'He woascii117ld have got a grip, got on with it, called people into a room and foascii117nd oascii117t what, when, and how and briefed the DG, and whoever else needed to be briefed, on what he foascii117nd.'