Savile Newsnight probe to report

19 December 2012 Last updated at 03:14 ET

An inquiry into Newsnight's shelving of a report on sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile is due to publish its findings.

The Pollard Review was set up by the BBC to see if there were "failings" in the management of the investigation.

It will examine claims the Newsnight report was dropped because of planned tributes to the late DJ and presenter.

Findings will also be announced in relation to a Newsnight report that led to Lord McAlpine being wrongly implicated in child abuse allegations.

In December 2011, BBC TV's flagship current affairs programme dropped its six-week investigation into claims Savile - a former Radio 1 DJ and presenter of BBC1's Jim'll Fix It - abused youngsters.

Savile - who police say allegedly sexually abused hundreds of children and young people over five decades - died in October 2011, aged 84.

Tribute programmes to the presenter were later aired on the BBC over Christmas and New Year leading to accusations of a cover-up - a claim denied by the BBC.

In October, ITV aired its own programme on the allegations, in which five women claimed that as teenagers in the 1970s they had been sexually assaulted by Savile, in some cases in his BBC dressing room.

Mounting allegations

The Pollard Review was set up just days later amid mounting allegations against Savile - and amid questions over why the Newsnight report was dropped and whether there had been a cover-up.

Newsnight editor Peter Rippon stepped aside while the review - in which BBC executives and journalists from the programme have given evidence - was carried out.

As well as looking at why the report was dropped while tributes were aired, former head of Sky News Nick Pollard has also looked at how inaccuracies appeared in Mr Rippon's blog about the Newsnight investigation, and how the corrections to that blog were handled.

Continue reading the main story

Operation Yewtree: Scotland Yard criminal investigation into sexual abuse claims against Savile and others linked to the presenter
BBC investigation led by former Sky News head Nick Pollard into management failures over the dropping of Newsnight report about Savile
BBC investigation led by former Appeal Court judge Dame Janet Smith into corporation's culture and practices during Savile's career and current child protection and whistle-blowing policies
BBC investigation led by Dinah Rose QC into handling of past sexual harassment claims
Department of Health investigation into its own conduct in appointing Savile to lead a "taskforce" overseeing management of high security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor in 1988
Director of Public Prosecutions review into decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute Savile in 2009

Separately, the BBC Trust is to publish the findings of its Editorial Standards Committee in relation to a Newsnight investigation into child abuse at a care home in north Wales.

The programme, aired on 2 November, led to former Conservative Treasury minister Lord McAlpine being wrongly linked on the internet to child sex abuse allegations.

BBC director general George Entwistle later resigned "in the light of the unacceptable journalistic standards" of the Newsnight report and the BBC paid out £185,000 in libel damages.

A summary of the findings of the inquiry into Newsnight's care home report, carried out by BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie, have already been released, and identified "unacceptable" failings and a lack of basic journalistic checks.

The release of Mr MacQuarrie's full report has awaited the completion of disciplinary proceedings.

The BBC has also launched two other investigations relating to Savile.

Former Appeal Court judge Dame Janet Smith is looking into the culture and practices of the BBC during the years Savile worked there, while Dinah Rose QC is looking into the handling of past sexual harassment claims.

The findings are expected next year.

The Metropolitan Police investigation into Savile's alleged offences, Operation Yewtree, is also looking at claims against other people, both involving Savile and unrelated to him.

Police say the number of alleged sex abuse victims of Savile stands at 450, with allegations dating from 1959 to 2006.

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