We’re going to pause the blog for now. Here’s a summary of what we know:
- Serious failings at the BBC allowed Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall to sexually abuse nearly 100 people without detection for decades, according to two damning reports. Dame Janet Smith found that despite what had happened with Savile and Hall in previous years, those worked at the BBC were still worried about reporting potential abuse and taking on the broadcaster’s stars.
- The report ultimately concludes that there is no evidence that the BBC as a corporate body was aware of Savile’s conduct and therefore cannot be convicted of any offence. But the report found a “macho culture” of sexism and sexual harassment and an “atmosphere of fear” led many BBC employees to keep quiet about concerns.
- BBC director general Tony Hall apologised to the survivors of abuse and accepted Smith’s findings in full. “We will learn the lessons from these terrible times,” he promised.
- Rona Fairhead, chair of the BBC Trust said: “We need to restore the public’s trust in the BBC.” She said the BBC’s management would “immediately reviews its policies and procedures on child protection, complaints, whistleblowing, and investigations”. The NSPCC will be involved in the review.
- The BBC “parted company” with Tony Blackburn because the evidence he gave to the inquiry “fell short” of the standards required. Tony Hall said Blackburn’s position became “untenable” after he denied to Smith that he had been interviewed twice over complaints from the mother of Claire McAlpine who committed suicide after claiming she was abused.
- Blackburn has repeated his threat to sue the BBC. He claimed he was being “hung out to dry”, while he and others accused the corporation of trying to divert attention from Smith’s findings.
- A lawyer for the victims of Savile and Stuart Hall dismissed Smith’s report as an “an expensive whitewash”. Liz Dux, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, said: “There is real concern that the culture of fear and oppression referred to might have prevented more from speaking out more candidly and still exists today.”
The BBC can take depressing comfort from overwhelming evidence that it was not and is not alone in its failure, writes Sandra Laville.
The Church of England, the Catholic church, leading private schools, local authorities in Oxford, Rotherham, Rochdale, Derby, the police service and numerous other institutions in British public life have all exhibited these same traits.
When a senior police officer first revealed the scale of Savile’s offending three years ago he noted the entertainer had been “hiding in plain sight” for decades. But the likes of Jimmy Savile, albeit of varying degrees of recidivism, have been hiding in plain sight across many British institutions and within society for years.
We have seen how the establishment, from the then archbishop of Canterbury down, wrote letters of support in 1993 for Church of England bishop Peter Ball when he was first accused of sexual abuse – an intervention which might or might not have led to the decision not to prosecute him then.
We have witnessed the repeated failures of police and prosecutors to bring Greville Janner to justice while he was alive and we have noted with alarm how the authorities in ordinary British towns such as Rotherham, Oxford and Derby – to name just a few – treated vulnerable young girls as consenting adults and refused to believe their allegations of horrific sexual abuse.
If reading Smith’s report is shocking, be prepared to be further shocked in the months and years to come as Judge Lowell Goddard opens public hearings investigating up to 25 British institutions over their failures to tackle child abuse and sexual exploitation.
The BBC is being of deliberately sacking Tony Blackburn to try to deflect attention from Smith’s report.
The broadcaster and former Daily Mirror editor tweeted: “Looks to me like BBC have fried Tony Blackburn to distract attention from its own Savile failings.”
Looks to me like BBC have fried Tony Blackburn to distract attention from its own Savile failings: https://t.co/f4UFR9IFwh
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 25, 2016
Asked if she thought the sacking was deliberately timed, broadcaster Nina Myskow told BBC Radio 2: “I think it’s absolutely deliberate. Tony Hall has fallen in my estimation, I think it’s utterly scandalous.”
She described Blackburn as “a thoroughly decent, upstanding man”, adding: “I mean, the only crime he’s been capable of as far as I’m concerned is duff jokes and dodgy hair.”
Blackburn also accused the BBC of trying to divert attention. In his second statement he said: “Sadly, today’s news agenda should have been about the survivors of abuse carried out within the BBC but, by sacking me, they have managed to take the focus off those who have suffered so much.”
The 1971 allegation, which Tony Blackburn has strenuously denied, was that he “seduced” teenager Claire McAlpine after inviting her back to his flat following a recording of Top Of The Pops, PA reminds us.
In an earlier statement, Blackburn said he had been told that the girl’s mother told the BBC, a few weeks after her initial complaint, that Claire had withdrawn the allegation.
Blackburn also said Dame Janet’s report made no suggestion that he was guilty of misconduct with the teenager, nor did a coroner’s inquest or a subsequent police inquiry into her death after she took her own life.
But Lord Hall said the corporation had “parted company” with Blackburn, referred to as A7 in the report, because of his evidence to the inquiry.
Asked why the BBC sacked the DJ, Lord Hall said: “So many survivors and witnesses have honestly and openly co-operated fully and at great personal cost to themselves.
“As Dame Janet has said, she’s rejected his evidence, and she has explained very clearly why.
“I have to take that extremely seriously. My interpretation of that is that Tony Blackburn fell short of the standards of evidence that such an inquiry demanded.
Hall said paragraphs in the report showed Blackburn was interviewed twice by Bill Cotton and Sir Brian Neill over complaints from the mother of Claire McAlpine who committed suicide after claiming she was abused.
And yet when interviewed by Dame Janet, Blackburn denied these interviewed had taken place, Hall said. “My view is that given the importance of this investigation and the weight of responsibility of everyone to work fully and frankly with Dame Janet’s review, I felt it was untenable for the BBC to continue its relationship [with Blackburn] because of that.”
In Dame Janet’s report, she said: “For the sake of completeness, I should make it clear at this stage that I have not attempted to make any judgment about the allegation involving A7 and Claire McAlpine.
“The question does not fall within my terms of reference. My legitimate interest in this matter relates only to what can be inferred about the BBC’s culture and practices from the way in which the matter was investigated by the BBC.”
News website Exaro was criticised as “irresponsible” for publishing an early draft of Dame Janet Smith’s report, writes Kevin Rawlinson.
Smith said the site’s story had led to the identification of people she had agreed should remain anonymous and that its publication was “entirely unjustified”.
“Exaro’s decision appears to have been taken for its own commercial gain without any thought for the interests of the many victims of Savile or the integrity of the reporting process,” Smith’s report read.
Addressing reporters as she announced the release of her review, Smith said the site had been irresponsible.
Exaro ran leaked extracts of a draft of Smith’s BBC-commissioned report into whether the culture and practices of the broadcaster allowed Savile to get away with decades of sexual abuse.
It published a series of stories on 20 January revealing many of the criticisms levelled at the BBC in those drafts. In an article published at the time, the website said it felt its reports were in the public interest.
Updated
Savile or سافل is a word in Arabic meaning filthy, raffish and immoral, notes the Guardian’s Mona Mahmood.
It translates to most bad words you can think of, she says.
Updated
Blackburn repeats threat to sue BBC
Tony Blackburn said the BBC has “hung me out to dry” and repeated his threat to sue the corportion.
In a new statement he said:
“I have listened to what has been said by Tony Hall and others today in connection with the publication of the Dame Janet Smith Report.
“I repeat what I told Dame Janet when I voluntary gave evidence to assist her and the BBC. What I said in my earlier statement regarding the alleged meetings with Brian Neill QC and Bill Cotton Junior 45 years ago still stands.
“Given Dame Janet Smith’s concerns of a culture of fear in coming forward at the BBC, the fact that I have been scapegoated for giving my honest account and best recollections of those events 45 years ago - which I felt was a whitewash - what whistleblower at the BBC would ever come forward when they see the way they have hung me out to dry.
“Sadly today’s news agenda should have been about the survivors of abuse carried out within the BBC but, by sacking me, they have managed to take the focus off those who have suffered so much.
“My lawyers are now considering all statements made by the BBC about me today and we will be taking action.”
Here’s his statement from last night.
— Tony Blackburn (@tonyblackburn) February 24, 2016
Here’s a summary of what we know:
- Serious failings at the BBC allowed Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall to sexually abuse nearly 100 people without detection for decades, according to two damning reports. Dame Janet Smith found that despite what had happened with Savile and Hall in previous years, those worked at the BBC were still worried about reporting potential abuse and taking on the broadcaster’s stars.
- The report ultimately concludes that there is no evidence that the BBC as a corporate body was aware of Savile’s conduct and therefore cannot be convicted of any offence. But the report found a “macho culture” of sexism and sexual harassment and an “atmosphere of fear” led many BBC employees to keep quiet about concerns.
- BBC director general Tony Hall apologised to the survivors of abuse and accepted Smith’s findings in full. “We will learn the lessons from these terrible times,” he promised.
- Rona Fairhead, chair of the BBC Trust said: “We need to restore the public’s trust in the BBC.” She said the BBC’s management would “immediately reviews its policies and procedures on child protection, complaints, whistleblowing, and investigations”. The NSPCC will be involved in the review.
- The BBC “parted company” with Tony Blackburn because the evidence he gave to the inquiry “fell short” of the standards required. Tony Hall said Blackburn’s position became “untenable” after he denied to Smith that he had been interviewed twice over complaints from the mother of Claire McAlpine who committed suicide after claiming she was abused.
- A lawyer for the victims of Savile and Stuart Hall dismissed Smith’s report as an “an expensive whitewash”. Liz Dux, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, said: “There is real concern that the culture of fear and oppression referred to might have prevented more from speaking out more candidly and still exists today.”
Victims' lawyer dismisses 'expensive whitewash'
A lawyer for the victims of Savile and Stuart Hall has dismissed Smith’s report as an “an expensive whitewash”.
In a statement Liz Dux, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, who represents 168 victims, said:
“All the Savile and Hall victims have ever wanted from this report is truth and accountability.
“Despite millions having been spent on the inquiry, my clients will feel let down that the truth has still not been unearthed and many will feel it is nothing more than an expensive whitewash.
“It is unfortunate that Dame Janet had no power to compel senior managers to give evidence, giving the impression that the whole picture of who knew what has not been revealed.
“With 117 witnesses giving evidence of concerns and rumours, it’s implausible to suggest that this did not reach the upper echelons of the BBC.
“What’s apparent is that the senior managers only had to scratch at the very surface and a lot of Savile’s offending would have been revealed.
“There is real concern that the culture of fear and oppression referred to might have prevented more from speaking out more candidly and still exists today.”
Dame Janet Smith’s report found “no evidence” senior BBC staff knew about abuse by #Savile https://t.co/HL4yrZLqr7 pic.twitter.com/5tERY5ht94
— Slater and Gordon UK (@SlaterGordonUK) February 25, 2016
Smith insisted her report was not a whitewash. She said that as a judge she needed evidence, not rumours, that senior BBC managers knew about Savile’s abuse.
Updated
Radio station stands by Blackburn
Kent radio station Kmfm has said it is standing by Tony Blackburn, who hosts a weekly show, despite the BBC choosing to fire him, writes Mark Sweney.
“Kmfm will be supporting Tony Blackburn fully and will be continuing his broadcast contract,” said a spokesman for the station. “His show will air as normal this Sunday between 4pm-7pm on our stations. He is a great asset, a fantastic broadcaster and someone we are proud to work with”.
Mark and Kevin Rawlinson have more on Blackburn ‘parting company’ with the BBC.
Esther Rantzen said she is doubtful that positive changes in the media industry will result from Smith report, writes Jamie Grierson.
Rantzen told the Guardian: “I am pessimistic. The most recent case of sexual harassment I know about was another broadcaster, an independent broadcaster, but again it was someone who was ‘Talent’, and therefore the young woman felt she couldn’t complain or ask for help.
“I think it happens when it’s a banker or a judge, we know this week a
bishop convicted of terrible offences. Gang leaders in Rotherham.
“Power, we know corrupts, but it appears it also prevents those who
are vulnerable from speaking out.”
“There are very crucial lessons to be learned and maybe one of the
lessons is for parents. Make sure young people don’t get dazzled by
the glitz of fame or fortune, to think the people they’ve admired from
afar are actual trustworthy.”
Asked if the BBC’s promises will make a difference, Rantzen said:
“We’re all vulnerable to it. It’s in our DNA to admire iconic figures
but we have to as parents make sure we protect our children, and
organisations that build up people to status of stars have to be aware
that safeguards must be put in place.
“It sounds like a dry set of policies but they’re practical and do
protect children and young people.”
Here are tables about the abuse by Stuart Hall during his time at the BBC.
PA has more reaction from ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen.
“Celebrity has cast a spell over everyone” and that youngsters need to be told that “fame isn’t a guarantee of virtue”, it quotes her saying.
Rantzen added:
“It’s not new really, you have had demagogues, leaders, monarchs, all sorts of people who have been like magicians and I’m afraid that the media have done this to stars of reality shows, disc jockeys, all sorts of people.
“I don’t know quite how you protect people from it. I would suggest that when a child says his or her ambition is to be rich and famous, somebody somewhere needs to point out that sometimes there are feet of clay, and that fame isn’t a guarantee of virtue, goodness, (or) kindness.
“The tragedy that someone, somewhere appointed Jimmy Savile to present a programme (Jim’ll Fix It) in which he was supposed to be humane, good, kind, (and) generous to all the children that came near - that is a terrible irony and it must not be repeated.”
“I think there have been some good results, both of the revelations about Savile and this report, because I do think that survivors of abuse do feel more able to come forward, talk about what’s happened to them, recognise it was not their fault, and that their disclosures will be investigated.”
Summary
Here’s video of Tony Hall confirming that the BBC sacked Tony Blackburn.
Updated
Esther Rantzen, the former BBC presenter and founder of Childline, said she took her own children to see Savile’s Jim’ll Fix It show despite knowing the rumours about her colleague.
“I took my own children to Jim’ll Fix It, I would never have put them at risk if I thought there was a serious danger there,” she told BBC News.
But Rantzen said he she heard rumours about Savile since she started working as a researcher at the BBC in early 1970s.
“But as Dame Janet said, there is a real difference between rumour and gossip and evidence,” Rantzen said. “The problem was that throughout my career at the BBC I never heard anyone disclosing that Jimmy had abused them.”
Updated
Nature of Savile’s offences
Guardian Visuals have put together a series of graphics drawn from Smith’s report.
Here’s video of Tony Hall’s apology to the victims of Savile and Stuart Hall.
Dux said the report made an “artificial distinction” between who knew about abuse and whether the BBC could have been held responsible.
But she welcomed Tony Hall’s acknowledgement that the BBC could have known about the abuse. “There was such widespread knowledge that you only had to scratch the surface and Savile’s dastardly deeds would have been uncovered,” said Dux.
She said there was much work to do to resolve the “culture of fear” at the BBC.
She added: “I think the BBC is taking its duties responsibly. The real concern is about the status of celebrity, and whether someone still feels able to accuse someone who is immensely famous is yet to be seen.”
Liz Dux, who represents 168 victims of Savile and Hall, said all her clients care about is to ensure the abuse never happened again.
Dux, from the firm Slater and Gordon, warned that celebrities still had “huge power” at the BBC.
Speaking on BBC news Dux said the Smith’s report was “disappointing” because it didn’t reveal the “full picture” of abuse at the BBC.
Updated
Hall: Blackburn's position 'untenable'
Hall gave more details about why the BBC sacked Tony Blackburn.
He said paragraphs in the report showed Blackburn was interviewed twice by Bill Cotton and Sir Brian Neill over complaints from the mother of Claire McAlpine who committed suicide after claiming she was abused.
But when interviewed by Dame Janet, Blackburn denied these interviewed had taken place, Hall said. “My view is that given the importance of this investigation and the weight of responsibility of everyone to work fully and frankly with Dame Janet’s review, I felt it was untenable for the BBC to continue its relationship [with Blackburn] because of that.”
He wouldn’t be drawn on how much, if anything, the BBC had paid Blackburn in compensation.
Why Tony Blackburn was fired. Part of the Smith report pic.twitter.com/McJJryXaVD
— David Grossman (@davidgrossman) February 25, 2016
Updated
Hall: Blackburn sacked after falling short on standards of evidence
Asked why the BBC has sacked Tony Blackburn, Hall confirms the BBC has “parted company” with the veteran DJ.
Defending the move, Hall said: “As Dame Janet has said, she has rejected his [Blackburn’s] evidence and she has explained very clearly why. I have to take that extremely seriously. My interpretation of that is that Tony Blackburn fell short of the standards of evidence that such an inquiry demanded. I’m making no accusations about events or behaviours that happened in the past ... but about what he was doing in front of this really crucial inquiry.”
Hall confirms that Tony Blackburn has "parted co" with the BBC after #damejanetsmith rejected evidence
— jane martinson (@janemartinson) February 25, 2016
Hall adds that Blackburn last remaining BBC employee mentioned in the report and that he "fell short of standards" demanded by the inquiry
— jane martinson (@janemartinson) February 25, 2016
Updated
Full text of Hall's response
The BBC has also published the full text of Hall’s response.
Addressing the survivors of the abuse by Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall he said:
A serial rapist and a predatory sexual abuser both hid in plain sight at the BBC for decades. It was a dark chapter in the history of the organisation, but a much darker one for all of you. The BBC failed you when it should have protected you. I am deeply sorry for the hurt caused to each and every one of you.
I also know that it cannot have been easy for you to come forward and confront the past like this. Many of you have done so for the first time. I admire your courage and am grateful for your honesty. Your voice has finally been heard but I also recognise it has been heard far, far too late.
So today we say sorry. We let you down and we know it.
Hall’s statement ends:
I would like to say this to the survivors of Savile and Hall.
You have shown extraordinary courage in coming forward and telling us all what you went through. We are determined to honour your courage.
We will learn the lessons from these terrible times. We will confront the issues head on. We will continue to address them in an open and honest way. And we will be there for you.
So over time the BBC can be a stronger and better organisation. And we can help bring some closure to this dark chapter.
That is the very least we owe to you.
Updated
Rona Fairhead, chair of the BBC trust, is now reading through her statement.
The NSPCC will be involved in the BBC’s review of safeguarding procedures against child abuse, Hall says.
An independent audit is to be made of all BBC policies, rules and procedures, Hall says.
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
"We have changed, we are changing but we need to do more," Hall says.
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
Updated
BBC accepts report 'in full'
Hall said the BBC accepts Smith’s report in full.
He pledged to continue to do more put in safeguards against abuse at the BBC. “Our duty is to be better,” Hall said.
Hall promises to review complaints and whistleblowing at the BBC. “We cannot be complacent”, Hall says after trotting through improvements in whistleblowing procedures.
The BBC could have known about Savile’s abuse, Hall concedes.
It was an organisation that was too hierarchical. “This has been one of the most important inquiries in the BBC’s history,” Hall said.
We made Savile a VIP and what this terrible ep teaches us is that fame is power and must be held to a/c says Hall
— jane martinson (@janemartinson) February 25, 2016
Account of survivor who was told "keep your mouth shut, he's a VIP" particularly affected Hall. "It was we the BBC who did that."
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
Tony Hall: 'deeply sorry'
The BBC’s director general Tony Hall says it is a “very sobering day”.
In his response to the report he said what happened at the BBC was “profoundly wrong”. Addressing the victims he said was “deeply sorry for the hurt caused to each and everyone of you.” Hall described abuse at the BBC as “dark chapter” in the BBC’s history.
He also thanked the victims for coming forward, and promised that lessoned would be learned.
Lord Hall now addressing reporters "it is a sobering day for the BBC". pic.twitter.com/3OLx4m2aog
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
Tony Hall says report "sobering" for BBC. Tells survivors events were "profoudnly wrong, shd never have started and shd have been stopped"
— jane martinson (@janemartinson) February 25, 2016
Updated
Smith said the BBC handled a complaint against Tony Blackburn “very badly”.
Smith quizzed about a DJ in report called A7, now known to be Tony Blackburn. She said complaint against him was handled "very badly" by BBC
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
Blackburn was accused in 1971 of seducing a teenage girl who went on to kill herself. He strongly denied then and now.
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
Peter Wanless, chief executive of the children’s charity the NSPCC, urged the BBC to review its whistleblowing procedures.
In a statement he said:
“This report demonstrates just how disturbingly easy at the time it was for Savile to get away, unchallenged, with despicable acts against children at the BBC. The impact on his victims has been profound - as we have already witnessed from calls to our helpline.
“It is tragic that a culture existed at the BBC in which Savile became too powerful to confront, so allowing him to use his celebrity status to abuse at will, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.
“The BBC must ensure staff can easily raise concerns and that robust safeguarding procedures are in place to effectively act on these so that a scandal of this kind, never mind this magnitude, is never repeated.”
Smith denies she was put under any pressure to alter the wording of her report from the earlier draft version. She said the wording was changed because she found better ways of making her points.
Smith denies 'whitewash'
“It certainly isn’t a whitewash”, Smith says in response to the first question about her report.
She said that as a judge she needed evidence not rumours. She said she couldn’t draw the inference from rumours that management knew about abuse by Savile and Stuart Hall.
Updated
Smith also condemned the leak of a draft version of report by Exaro news.
Exaro leak of draft report upset many Savile and Hall victims and was not in the public interest, Smith says.
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
The report makes “sorry reading” for the BBC, Smith said. She said she had a meeting with BBC director general Tony Hall about her findings and was “satisfied” that Hall accepted her recommendations.
Smith criticised Savile’s producer Ted Beston, Canon Colin Semper, a producer of Speakeasy, and Douglas Muggeridge, the controller of Radio 1 and Radio 2.
There were three individuals who could have done something about Savile - Ted Beston, Canon Colin Semper and Douglas Muggeridge.
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
Updated
The BBC thoroughly investigated allegations about corruption on Top of the Pops, but it did not investigate allegations of sexual abuse on the programme. Complaints about abuse on Top of the Pops were not recorded, but “brushed aside”, she said.
“There was a culture of not complaining” at the BBC, Smith said. There was “deeply deferential” managerial structure at the corporation. Rivalry between departments and a “macho culture” compounded problems, she said.
A lack of women in senior positions and culture of ignoring sexual abuse helped perpetuate crimes with victims ignored #DameJanetSmith
— jane martinson (@janemartinson) February 25, 2016
Talent was treated with kid gloves, Smith said. Child protection was very low on the radar. Sexual harassment was not taken seriously by society at the time, she conceded.
Updated
Dame Janet Smith is presenting her report at a press conference. She said she found five occasions where the BBC missed signs of Savile’s abuse.
BBC Trust 'saddened and appalled'
Rona Fairhead, chair of BBC Trust, said she is “saddened and appalled” by the report.
I am saddened and appalled by the events recounted here and in a few moments I want to address how we will aim to ensure we never allow them to happen again.
But our primary thoughts must be with the victims – the survivors of the abuse perpetrated by Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall. Today’s reports lay bare the full horror of what happened to them. Those experiences can never be erased.
No one reading the reports can be in any doubt that the BBC failed them. It failed, not just them, but the public, its audiences and its staff.
It turned a blind eye, where it should have shone a light. And it did not protect those who put their trust in it.
On behalf of the BBC and its staff past and present, I want to apologise to the survivors for all they have suffered. I also want to commit to them directly, that we will ensure the BBC does everything it possibly can to prevent any such events in the future ...
The survivors and the public have a right to understand not just what happened, but how it was allowed to happen. Who knew what and why processes failed. And to have the confidence that the BBC is taking all appropriate action.
We need to restore the public’s trust in the BBC. We need to demonstrate – through our actions – that the BBC’s values are for everyone and non-negotiable.
For, as Dame Janet makes clear, these events happened in the past but they raise serious issues that remain relevant and need to be addressed today.
We fully support Dame Janet’s recommendation that the BBC Executive immediately reviews its policies and procedures on child protection, complaints, whistleblowing, and investigations – and that all of those should also be independently audited and published. It is important that this work also takes account of the variety of working relationships people have with the BBC, from freelancers and occasional contractors through to full time members of staff.
The plans that Tony Hall has put forward today represent a thorough response to this recommendation. The Trust will work alongside the Executive to ensure that the BBC takes all further steps that it needs to as quickly as it possibly can.
Dame Janet also makes challenging observations about the BBC’s culture. It is clear that the public expect the BBC to keep to the highest possible standards, but the BBC failed. And Dame Janet finds the status given to celebrities, the BBC’s hierarchical structure and the lack of cohesion between its different departments present unique challenges which must be overcome if serious wrongdoing is to be exposed.
The cultural change that must take place has to be both substantial and permanent. The BBC must engage fully with its staff, listen to its critics and submit policies and culture to external scrutiny.
I have discussed this with Tony Hall at length and have no doubt that he is absolutely committed to achieving this.
He also recognises that for change to be genuine and lasting, it requires the active involvement and support of those working within and around the organisation. The Trust will do whatever it can to help the management achieve this change and, if necessary, to push them to do more or go further. There are long-term and deep-seated issues to tackle, but today’s reports provide a clear impetus to do so urgently and openly. To that end, the Trust will continue to pursue these questions with the DG, taking stock of his progress at each of its monthly meetings for the remainder of the year.
These events will forever be a source of deep regret and shame. Many people were failed by those who should have protected and supported them. Our commitment to the survivors and to the public is to ensure we do everything possible to prevent this happening again.
Updated
The presenter Miriam O’Reilly who fought the BBC over claims of ageism said she was not surprised by the findings. The former Countryfile presenter tweeted that staff are still afraid to speak up.
No surprise #BBC staff still afraid to speak up to Dame Janet Smith Inquiry. Too many personal consequences resulting from execs retribution
— Miriam O'Reilly (@OReillyMiriam) February 25, 2016
Key points
Jamie Grierson picks out the main points of Smith’s report:
- Dame Janet Smith identified 72 BBC victims of Savile, including eight rapes.
- Among the rapes, six victims were female and two were male.
- Savile sexually assaulted 57 women or girls and 15 boys, with the youngest girl he raped being 13 and youngest boy being 10.
- The earliest known incident was the rape of a 13-year-old girl at Lime Grove in 1959 and his last known incident was in 2006 at the last recording of Top of the Pops.
- Smith says she has identified “serious failings” in the BBC’s culture and systems of communication, management and investigation.
- During the years covered by Smith’s investigation, the BBC was a place of sexual discrimination and sexual harassment.
- Smith concludes had these failures been addressed at the time, Savile’s activities could have been curtailed.
- Smith calls on the BBC to respond to her report within six months, setting out its current rules and procedures in areas which have been criticised, such as complaint handling processes and audience protection.
- She urges the BBC to examine its attitudes towards “the Talent”, or on-screen presenters, adding they should be “left in no doubt” as to the standards expected of them.
- No complaints were made about Savile to the BBC’s duty office, as would be the appropriate procedure, although there were eight occasions on which complaints were made in other ways.
- The first complaint was made in the late 1960s and concerned Savile inappropriately kissing a member of staff in Manchester.
- Some members of BBC staff - junior and middle-ranking - were aware of Savile’s inappropriate sexual conduct in connection with his work for the BBC but there is no evidence that any senior member of staff was aware of Savile’s conduct.
- No evidence that the BBC as a corporate body was aware of Savile’s conduct.
- An atmosphere of fear still exists today in the BBC possibly because obtaining work in the BBC is highly competitive and many people no longer have the security on an employment contract.
Updated
Report published
“Serious failings” at the BBC allowed Jimmy Savile to sexually abuse 72 women and children without detection for decades, according to a damning report published on Thursday which insisted that the corporation still had lessons to learn, write Jane Martinson and Jamie Grierson.
Dame Janet Smith, who started the independent inquiry in October 2012, found that although the criminal behaviour was largely the fault of the perpetrators, the BBC could have stopped it but failed to do so.
A “macho culture” of sexism and sexual harrassment and an “atmosphere of fear” led many employees to keep quiet about concerns, she wrote. She found BBC staff “more worried about reputation than the safety of children”.
The report, which 372,400 words, made for “sorry reading” for the BBC said Smith, a former Court of Appeal judge.
Smith also urged the BBC to examine its culture today, particularly when it came to the continued fear of speaking out and its attitudes towards “the Talent”, or on-screen presenters.
In conclusion, Smith writes: “The delivery of these reports presents an opportunity for the BBC to take steps to ensure that history cannot repeat itself.”
However, the report ultimately concludes that there is no evidence that the BBC as a corporate body was aware of Savile’s conduct and therefore can not be convicted of any offence.
In a conclusion which may disappoint campaigners for victims, Smith’s “overarching recommendation” was that the BBC should carry out a further review and subsequent audit of its current management.
Updated
Kevin Cook, one of Savile’s victims said he was abused by the star when he was just nine years old. “He was almost god-like, one of the biggest stars”, he told the BBC’s Victoria Live programme.
Compelling, heart breaking, interview with one of Jimmy Savile's victims on #Derbyshire now @VictoriaLIVE pic.twitter.com/YmK7oksYVm
— Rickin Majithia (@rick_maj) February 25, 2016
While we wait for Smith’s report to be published it’s worth pointing out that Tony Blackburn has repeatedly denied that he witnessed any abuse by Savile.
In a 2014 TV interview with Piers Morgan, he said “were always rumours about him [Savile] but I never saw him do anything wrong. I didn’t realise how bad he was.”
Blackburn said it was is a “sin” that Jimmy Savile will not pay for his crimes.
Blackburn, who worked with Savile at Radio 1 for many years, said none of his colleagues “liked him particularly”, adding: “He was an oddball. I didn’t like him as a person. It was always this silly Jimmy Savile. He never talked to you in a normal way.”
Blackburn says he had been sacked by the BBC because his evidence to Smith shows that a cover-up, of which he had no knowledge, had taken place.
Here’s a profile of the veteran broadcaster:
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Summary
Welcome to live coverage of the publication of Dame Janet Smith’s report into the BBC’s failure to prevent abuse by the TV star Jimmy Savile.
Smith’s report, which is expected to criticise the BBC and its deferential culture, will be published at 10am.
Jane Martinson, the Guardian’s head of media, sets the stage:
The review is expected to offer a searing indictment of the BBC and its culture, which did nothing to stop the abuse “in virtually every corner” of the corporation.
A draft of the report, leaked in January, criticised the corporation’s “deferential culture”, with “untouchable stars” and “above the law” managers.
The report also found that while new safeguards had made sexism and abuse far less frequent than they were in the 1970s, the culture of fear which stopped employees speaking out had actually got worse. Short-term and freelance contracts meant a workforce “with little or no job security”, which was even less likely to speak out about the behaviour of colleagues.
But the BBC cannot be criticised for failing to uncover Savile’s “sexual deviancy”, it said, given the failure of law enforcement agencies to do the same thing.
The inquiry took evidence from more than 475 witnesses into whether BBC bosses were, or ought to have been, aware of inappropriate sexual conduct on its premises, and will look to identify any lessons to be learned and consider whether the BBC’s current child protection and whistleblowing policies are fit for purpose.
Launched by the BBC at the height of the Jimmy Savile scandal in October 2012, the inquiry was linked to a separate inquiry by Dame Linda Dobbs into the activities of Stuart Hall, the former It’s a Knockout presenter who was jailed in 2013 after he admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls, one as young as nine, between 1967 and 1985. Now 85, he was released in December 2015 after serving half his sentence.
Savile died in October 2011 aged 84 without having faced trial for any of his crimes. Indeed, he was awarded the OBE in 1971 and was knighted in 1990.
Following the leak, published by the Exaro website, Smith released a statement describing the version of the report as “out of date” and said significant changes had been made to the final report.
Meanwhile, veteran radio DJ Tony Blackburn says he is planning to sue the BBC after he was reportedly sacked ahead of Smith’s report. The 73-year-old claimed he had been sacked because his evidence to Smith shows that a cover-up, of which he had no knowledge, had taken place.
Some reporters, including the Guardian’s Jamie Grierson have been early sight of the Smith report at lock-in at the BBC.
I'm at the BBC to read Dame Janet Smith's report on Jimmy Savile abuse at the BBC. pic.twitter.com/h679tLx32Q
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) February 25, 2016
After publication at 10am, Smith is expected to give a press conference at around 10.15am.
Tony Hall, director general of the BBC, and Rona Fairhead, chair of the BBC’s Trust will then respond on behalf of the corporation.
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