10 years ago Sir Jimmy #Savile had just died & BBC News was preparing state funeral type coverage of his memorial service. Meanwhile in the Newsnight office myself, the brilliant, brave (& very funny) Liz MacKean & @hamlivingston were preparing to expose..
theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/n…
theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/n…
him as a monster. Poppy (who wrote this piece) was working with Liz on another project at the time & saw what happened. I suppose the main revelation is that it was Liz who leaked the BBC's cover up to the press. At the time I (wrongly) thought it was Mark Williams Thomas...
In retrospect Liz did the right thing. The BBC thought it was me & a senior press officer sent emails saying he would "drip poison about Meirion's suspected role". How you even keep your job after putting stuff like that in emails is a question only BBC management can answer...
It was only a year later that Liz told me it was her. I had just given evidence at the Pollard Review which was supposed to find out why the BBC had pulled our investigation into Savile in December 2011 & instead broadcast tributes to him all through Christmas. At a distance...
of 10 years it seems obvious why the BBC pulled an investigation which would have shown that one of their biggest stars was a paedophile & would've raised questions about how many senior managers knew what was going on & turned a blind eye. But Pollard found that although we...
had the story & it should've been run there must have been a good reason for it being pulled but no-one could suggest what that reason would be. Instead the BBC managed to divert Pollard into a mole hunt. The draft report alleged that I was the leaker. I asked for evidence...
There was none but they alleged I was the source for 4 articles in Oldie, Private Eye, Guardian & Times. All 4 journalists confirmed to Pollard that I was not their source & the criticism was removed from the report. Liz put me in the picture after my first day's evidence...
with a QC wasting time trying to trap me into admitting being the mole rather than getting on with finding out why the BBC covered up for Savile. My evidence the following day was subtly different but no-one noticed. I suppose the lesson is that corporations - even...
supposedly cuddly corporations like BBC will do anything to defend the bosses. 10 years on we've done nothing to deal with cover-up culture. There is still no law to make BBC managers or hospital chiefs or school heads report sexual abuse. Mandatory reporting now please. RIP Liz
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