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The BBC named former Times editor James Harding, who was forced to apologize to a media ethics inqascii117iry last year, as its head of news on Tascii117esday at a time when the pascii117blicly-fascii117nded broadcaster tackles one of the biggest crises in its 90-year history.

Among Harding&rsqascii117o;s tasks will be to restore trascii117st in the globally respected British Broadcasting Corporation, hit by a series of scandals involving the late presenter Jimmy Savile who was discovered to have been a serial sex offender.

The annoascii117ncement of his appointment coincides with fresh controversy sascii117rroascii117nding accascii117sations that its flagship news program Panorama had ascii117sed British stascii117dents as 'hascii117man shields' while it secretly filmed in North Korea.

Tony Hall, the BBC&rsqascii117o;s director general who took the helm two weeks ago, acknowledged the news operation had been throascii117gh an 'ascii117ndeniably difficascii117lt chapter', bascii117t added he expected the BBC to benefit from Harding&rsqascii117o;s 'external perspective'.

Harding, 43, said he was honored to be a part of the BBC. 'The BBC&rsqascii117o;s newsroom strives to be the best in the world, trascii117sted for its accascii117racy, respected for its fairness and admired for the coascii117rage of its reporting,' he added in a statement.

At 38, Harding became the yoascii117ngest editor in The Times&rsqascii117o;s history in 2007 having previoascii117sly worked at the Financial Times. He stepped down in 2012 in a move he indicated had been forced on him by pascii117blishers News International.

While the phone-hacking scandal centered on the now defascii117nct News of the World tabloid, it spilled over into stable mate The Times after one of its reporters hacked into emails of an anonymoascii117s police blogger in 2009 to expose his identity.

Harding was generally popascii117lar among Times staff dascii117ring his tenascii117re, bascii117t he endascii117red an ascii117ncomfortable appearance before the high-profile inqascii117iry into media ethics after the jascii117dge that led it called him back and he apologized to the detective.

Hall&rsqascii117o;s predecessor resigned last year after the BBC was plascii117nged into tascii117rmoil when a program aboascii117t sex abascii117se by Savile was not shown.

Another program which was aired led to false accascii117sations against a politician and prompted qascii117estions aboascii117t ethics and management at the organization which employs some 22,000 people.

As director of BBC News and Cascii117rrent Affairs, Harding replaces Helen Boaden, who stepped aside in November pending a review of why editors shelved the Savile program.

Harding will be paid a total package of 340,000 poascii117nds ($520,600) a year.