Post date: Nov 22, 2012 6:20:31 PM
Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House, replaces George Entwistle who resigned after just 54 days in the post.
LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (NOVEMBER 22, 2012) (POOL) - 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."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, but also has this incredible impact around the world too," Hall said after his appointment was officially announced.
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.
Entwistle's exit failed to cool the crisis however: the government said it was hard to justify his payoff of a year's salary of 450,000 pounds ($715,900).
BBC Trust Chairman Chris Patten defended the move however, saying the BBC wanted to prevent grounds for an unfair dismissal case.
"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 BBCas 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," said Patten.
In early reactions, media analysts greeted the appointment of Hall as a sound choice.