By Kevin McCauley
Margaret Sullivan, ombudsman at the New York Times, today wrote that she hopes the paper “ rises to the challenge and thoroughly reports what it finds” about what role, if any, that incoming CEO Mark Thompson had in the sex scandal that has rocked the BBC.
The British parliament today grilled the BBC’s director general George Entwistle about his role in the broadcaster’s decision to kill an investigative program about TV celebrity Jimmy Saville’s abuse of young girls. Saville died last year.
Thompson was director general of the BBC when the abuse occurred. He’s to take the helm of the NYTC on Nov. 12.
Sullivan credits the Times for reporting the BBC story through its London bureau and posting updates on its website.
She would like the Times to publish an “in-depth interview with Mr. Thompson exploring what exactly he knew, and when, about what happened at the BBC.”
The public editor wrote: “What are the implications of these problems for him as incoming Times chief executive? What are the implications for the Times Company to have its new C.E.O. – who needs to deal with many tough business challenges here – arriving with so much unwanted baggage?
“As the BBC has found out in the most painful way, for The Times to pull its punches will not be a wise way to go.”
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