October 24 – Mark Thompson was the director-general of the BBC when it killed a “Newsnight” documentary last December on the sexual exploits of BBC child rapist Jimmy Savile. Thompson, who worked at the BBC since 1979, recently said that he had “never heard any allegations or received any complaints” about Savile when he worked at the BBC. Really?
Thompson made his profession of ignorance on October 7; that same day, the BBC’s own press office contradicted him. Also on October 7, it was reported that last December, Thompson was “warned by an angry senior journalist about the potential consequences of axing the Newsnight investigation.” Today it is being reported that a well-respected BBC foreign correspondent also spoke to Thompson at the Christmas party about this issue; she says she informed him of the “broad context” of what happened. Now Thompson is saying that he recalls hearing something about this, but didn’t ask for details.
If the New York Times were really on this story it would know that none of this is new. Consider this report by British pundit Guido Fawkes: “Thompson was tackled about the axing [of the report exposing Savile] at a pre-Christmas drinks party, so he cannot claim to be ignorant of it.” Moreover, when the BBC was asked to respond, it refused. This was reported on February 9, 2012. If I know it, why doesn’t the New York Times?
