Opera Boss to Talk Helm at BBC

Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House, replaces George Entwistle who resigned after just 54 days in the post.

Published

6 months ago

Categories

World, Finance

Topics

Journalism, Television, Europe

People

Tony Hall, Jimmy Savile, George Entwistle, Chris Patten

Places

United Kingdom

Companies

British Broadcasting Corporation

Transcript

(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION) The BBC appointed a former journalist who runs the Royal Opera House to lead the broadcaster on Thursday (November 22) after sex abuse scandals shook public trust in one of Britain's most treasured institutions. Tony Hall, a former director of BBC news, will replace George Entwistle who resigned as director-general this month after failing to get to grips with a scandal that threw the 90-year-old state-funded organisation into turmoil. Hall, who will take up the role in March, left the BBC shortly after missing out on the top job in 2001. His predecessor lasted just 54 days in the job and was widely criticised for lacking leadership amid a scandal centring on the former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, who died last year and has since been exposed as a predatory serial child abuser. Already under fire for his handling of the Savile affair, Entwistle quit after the BBC's flagship programme "Newsnight" wrongly claimed a senior Conservative politician had also been involved in child sex abuse. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BBC DIRECTOR GENERAL TONY HALL, SAYING: "I care passionately about the BBC, about what it can do, its programme makers and the impact we can have in all sorts of ways. It is one of those extraordinary organisations which is an essential part of the UK, of Britain, of who we are, (TWO SHOT OF PATTEN AND HALL) but also has this incredible impact around the world too." (SOUNDBITE) (English) BBC TRUST CHAIRMAN CHRIS PATTEN, SAYING: "I've been in public life for a very long time, I'm not completely crazy. I knew perfectly well what newspaper headlines would say. I also knew what was in the interests of the BBC as an organisation and above all, in the interests of the license fee payer and I'm looking forward to saying that to the DCMS (Department for Culture Media and Sport) select committee - if they ask me about it - next week. And I will also be telling them about what I think about the legal advice received. I will have more to say about that then."