Portal:BBC/BBC news archive 2012
The Director-General of the BBC, George Entwistle has resigned after 54 days in the post, the shortest in history. Mr. Entwistle stated:
- In the light of the fact that the director general is also the editor in chief and ultimately responsible for all content, and in the light of the unacceptable journalistic standards of the Newsnight film broadcast on Friday 2 November, I have decided that the honourable thing to do is to step down from the post of director general.
The resignation followed the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal and a Newsnight investigation in which allegations were made about sexual abuse in North Wales by a former senior member of the Conservative Party, named on the internet site Twitter as Lord McAlpine. These later turned out to be false and the investigation was condemned for its false statements.
Mark Thompson has announced that he will step down as the BBC's Director General in the autumn of 2012. He was appointed in May 2004 and took over from Greg Dyke. He has been in the post eight years, making him the longest serving director general since the 1970s.
As Director General, Thompson has dealt with a number of difficulties to the BBC, including the 'Sachsgate' scandal and the increasing requirement to cut BBC budgets, causing concern over the possible damage to the BBC's services.
However, the Director General has also overseen the reintroduction of programmes such as Doctor Who and the introduction of new programmes including Strictly Come Dancing and the introduction of new services including the BBC iPlayer.
- BBC director general Mark Thompson announces departure
- BBC director general Mark Thompson announces departure video clip
The BBC Trust has completed its assessment of the 'Delivering Quality First' proposals, first laid out in October 2011. The proposals were largely passed, however alterations were made to reduce to cuts to BBC Local Radio and to the BBC's Nations and Regions.
Notable sections of these proposals include:
- The transfer of children's programmes from BBC One and BBC Two to CBBC and CBeebies after the digital switchover.
- The replacement of BBC HD with BBC Two HD.
- The removal of the Mid-morning and 3pm BBC News bulletins on BBC One.
- The general reduction of programming during the daytime and after 10pm.
- Closer relationships between national BBC Radio networks.