The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)  has been rocked by scandal, which has seen heads roll at the highest level. The flagship news program ‘Newsnight’ had produced a program about the late Jimmy Saville, which exposed allegations that Saville was a pedophile.

Jimmy Saville was a DJ and broadcaster in the 1960’s-80’s. He headlined prime time BBC programs like ‘Top of Pops’ and ‘Jim’ll Fix It’. At the height of his fame he was one of the most powerful broadcasters in the corporation.

‘Newsnight’ decided to shelve the program, in which victims were interviewed, telling of the abuse they suffered at the hands of Saville. The program was then broadcast by rival channel ITV.

Since the program was broadcast, hundreds more victims have come forward and police now believe that Saville could be the UKs most prolific pedophile.

In the light of the investigation, more celebrities have been named and it has been discovered that for years people within the BBC knew of the gossip surrounding Saville and did nothing.

The BBC has been a bastion for the liberal left for years, yet they believed Saville was too big a name to challenge. ‘Newsnight’ editor Peter Rippon said in emails, the investigation was not important because the allegations were surrounding “teenagers, not too young”. Another big name at the BBC, Esther Rantzen, who started the charity ‘Childline’ to help children report abuse, has spoken of the gossip at the BBC in the 80’s, yet she did nothing. ‘Childline’ has since dropped Rantzen as their patron.

Now the media is on a witch hunt, for the names of those pedophiles still to be exposed. This witch hunt led the BBC Newsnight program to name a Conservative Peer, Lord MacAlpine, as a pedophile. The man who the abuse concerns has publically said this is not the man who abused him. This blunder has caused the Director General of the BBC, George Entwistle, to step down.

As the scandal and the fall out continues, there are serious questions regarding the culture at the BBC, and the journalistic standards of their programs.