Time for a radical overhaul of BBC

MUMBAI: BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten has called for a radical overhaul of the broadcaster following the sex scandal that has plunged the world?s biggest broadcaster into crisis.

Patten said there is a "thorough, structural, radical overhaul" of the organisation. "My job is to make sure that we learn the lessons of those inquiries and that we restore confidence and trust in the BBC," Patten said.

Patten?s statements come after BBC?s Director General George Entwistle quit over the weekend in the wake of Newsnight report on North Wales child abuse. The report wrongly implicated a politician in child sex abuse.

Entwistle later told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "We should not have put out a film that was so fundamentally wrong. What happened here is completely unacceptable."

BBC was facing a "bad crisis" of trust in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal - including a decision to drop a Newsnight investigation exposing the late DJ as a serial child abuser, Entwistle admitted.

The BBC is battling the scandal surrounding Jimmy Savile, the late BBC television star now alleged to have been a prolific child sex offender.

BBC?s acting DG Tim Davie said that he?s determined to provide clarity and leadership and promises there will be no handbrake turn.

Entwistle said that the DG is also the Editor-in-Chief and ultimately responsible for all content. "In the light of the unacceptable journalistic standards of the Newsnight film broadcast on Friday 2nd November; I have decided that the honorable thing to do is to step down from the post of Director-General.

When appointed to the role, with 23 years? experience as a producer and "leader at the BBC, I was confident the Trustees had chosen the best candidate for the post, and the right person to tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead. However, the wholly exceptional events of the past few weeks have led me to conclude that the BBC should appoint a new leader.

"To have been the Director-General of the BBC even for a short period, and in the most challenging of circumstances, has been a great honour.

"While there is understandable public concern over a number of issues well covered in the media, which I?m confident, will be addressed by the Review process - we must not lose sight of the fact that the BBC is full of people of the greatest talent and the highest integrity. That?s what will continue to make it the finest broadcaster in the world."