UK sex abuse inquiry highlights ‘serious failings’ at BBC
"Serious failings at the BBC allowed Savile and Hall to sexually abuse nearly 100 people for decades", said the reports published by an independent inquiry on Thursday.
In October 2012, the BBC set up a review under Dame Janet Smith in order to carry out an impartial investigation of the corporation's culture and practices during 1964 and 2007, the years it employed Savile.
“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,” Smith, a former court of appeal judge concluded in the reports.
She found BBC staff “more worried about reputation than the safety of children”.
Some analysts say the revelation is a huge embarrassment for the BBC.
“The history of the involvement of Jimmy Savile in the BBC actually tells you something about the connection between the intelligence services and the British physical establishment. The essential problem is that whenever there are illicit and unlawful activities which come to the knowledge of intelligence services, they have a tendency not to tolerate it but to be a part of it so they get leverage on people. The BBC was certainly missed in taking action in circumstances when people knew about it and it not only tolerated but they were laughed at. The BBC failed to check the culprits and watching them wider than an individual was in fact the culture of the time,” London-based political commentator, Rodney Shakespeare told Press TV.The United Kingdom has witnessed a surge in child sexual abuse cases, some of which go back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and involving churches, media personalities and politicians.
The Savile scandal was made public one year after his death in 2001, leading the police to believe that he was one of Britain's most predatory sex offenders.
“In the late 1950s there were undoubted abuse in what you might call ‘closed institutions’ things like orphanages and sometimes religious institutions. In 1960s, you have a sort of open attitude that also meant more liberal and perhaps some undesirable consequences in the society as a whole” Shakespeare concluded.The report into Hall, also published on Thursday, concludes that BBC staff failed to report the presenter indulging in “inappropriate sexual conduct” partly because he was seen as an “untouchable” celebrity. Hall released in December after serving half of a five-year jail term for historical assaults against girls aged between nine and 17.
In its concluding remarks, the report says, however, that there is no evidence that the BBC was aware of Savile’s conduct and therefore cannot be convicted of any offence. But, there were a large number of people interviewed by Smith blamed the prevailing cultural factors at the corporation for deterring them from reporting complaints to senior staff.
Ironically, some lower and middle-raking BBC staff were aware of Savile’s inappropriate sexual conduct but they too failed to alert higher levels due to “inappropriate procedure”.
New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard was appointed to lead inquiry. No time limit has been set but the inquiry is likely to run for years and could see millions of dollars expenditure.
Justice Goddard, who previously led an inquiry into police handling of child abuse cases in her own country, has said she hopes to complete the job in the UK within five years.