BBC scandal spreads

The British broadcaster, one of the world's biggest media brands, is battling mounting criticism and ridicule as it scrambles to contain its worst crisis in years. Public faith in "the Beeb" has plunged as the result of one program on an alleged child molester that it didn't air -- and one that, unfortunately, it did, falsely implicating a former politician.

The turmoil intensified Monday with the announcement that two senior editors were "stepping aside" as the BBC tries to get to the bottom of what went wrong. The suspensions came after a weekend in which the head of the corporation resign after less than eight weeks on the job and the chairman of the BBC Trust call for a radical overhaul.

The new acting director general, Tim Davie, said Monday that he would immediately streamline the chain of command within the BBC's news division.The crisis began with the revelation that the BBC had abruptly shelved an investigation last year by its "Newsnight" program into allegations of child sexual abuse by the late Jimmy Savile, the popular host of a BBC children's show. The corporation was preparing a lavish tribute to Savile at the time that the "Newsnight" episode was pulled, though the editor who made the decision denies any link. 


"Newsnight" then broadcast an episode Nov. 2 on allegations of sex abuse at a children's home in Wales, which implicated a former Conservative Party grandee. But "Newsnight" apparently did not try to contact the man for a response. He denied them, and his accuser subsequently admitted identifying the wrong person. The BBC was forced to issue an abject apology.