CNN appointed Mark Thompson as CEO, the notorious former BBC director general who was in charge when the network decided to cover up the crimes of the celebrity pedophile Jimmy Savile, while he was still actively abusing children.
At the tail end of his 8-year stint at the BBC, Thompson became embroiled in the pedophilia scandal after the state broadcaster nixed a segment about an investigation into Savile, a longtime BBC presenter and accused pedophile.
The segment was slated to air on BBC’s Newsnight program in 2011, but was cancelled by high-level executives at the last minute. Thompson denied having been privy to the decision, saying he was “never formally notified about the ‘Newsnight’ investigation and was not briefed about the allegations they were examining and to what extent, if at all, those allegations related to Savile’s work at the BBC.”
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Nonetheless, as the director general, he faced criticism from members of the public and politicians alike. During one parliamentary hearing on the issue, MP Roger Gale questioned how Thompson could “not know what was going on under his own roof.”
Former Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman John Whittingdale pointed out, however, that testimony from those involved in the decision-making process revealed that the director general typically “doesn’t get dragged into these things.”
After finding out about the canceled segment, Thompson contacted other executives, who told him they “had decided not to proceed with it on journalistic grounds.”
Upon leaving the BBC to head the New York Times in 2012, the American newspaper’s then-chairman Arthur Sulzberger said he believed Thompson “played no role in the cancellation of the segment.”
Savile, who died in 2011, was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of children during his decades-long career, most of which was spent at the BBC, where he presented a slew of popular programs.
An investigation into his crimes was launched in 2012 by the Metropolitan Police, with a documentary by ITV released that same year.
