Former head of news at BBC Scotland calls for Newsnight to be scrapped
Atholl Duncan, a former head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland, has called for the broadcaster’s flagship news magazine to be axed and those responsible for contributing to the mess to be sacked in a bid to draw a line under ‘BBC journalism’s darkest hour’.
Writing in The Scotsman ahead of BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie’s own report, due on Ex director general George Entwistle’s empty desk today, Atholl called for any journalists or programme executives who are found to have ‘erred in judgement’, to go.
Atholl added: “The Newsnight brand must be sacrificed to save the global reputation of BBC journalism. The governance and oversight of such investigations must be reformed. The role of chief executive and editor-in-chief must be split, and the BBC must settle damages with Lord McAlpine as soon as possible. The acting DG, Tim Davie, and the chairman of the Trust, Lord Patten, must be seen to be acting decisively and immediately to make these things happen.”
Professing himself to be at a loss to explain how things could have gone so badly wrong Atholl voiced disbelief that the journalists involved hadn’t contacted Lord McAlpine ahead of broadcast, nor could he understand why investigative journalism had been outsourced to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at City University.
Seeking to understand why senior editors gave the piece the green light Atholl added: “I am told the three BBC News executives who I would rely on to get these things right were not involved, as they have been pushed aside to accommodate the Savile Newsnight inquiry.”
Atholl concluded: “The programme will go on air tonight, but this gravest of errors of judgment means that the flagship show’s days are numbered. It will surely now be axed in an act of repentance, just like the News of the World.”