George Entwistle resignation: Playing it safe?

Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

While it remains unclear whether or not George Entwistle, now the former Director General of the BBC, was pressured into resigning, it is easy to understand why the BBC Trust and the Culture Secretary would be advocates of this move. As Entwistle himself stated, his role as Editor in Chief meant that he should have known about the Newsnight report before it aired. The fact that he only found out about it afterwards puts the BBC into a dark light of shame.

With the BBC being a public broadcasting service, public opinion is of crucial importance. The way the BBC has handled the Savile scandal has been wrong from the very start, and the consequent stain on its reputation continues to spread. While some might think Entwistle is being cast as a scapegoat, it would come as no surprise if a long series of resignations is to follow. In an internal scandal such as this, in terms of public relations damage-control, as politics come unto play it is best to first remove any players that draw attention away from the main scope of the crisis by reacting unfittingly in their roles. Entwistle’s failure of preventing the Newsnight report that wrongly accused an anonymous politician, who later turned out to be Alistair McAlpine, of sexual child abuse, brings the spotlight even closer to the BBC. By first distancing themselves from these players, the BBC is playing things safe. One can only hope that once this process is complete, the attention will again return to Savile’s victims.