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Subscribe to RSSFor 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.
LONDON -- The child sex abuse scandal engulfing Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC, has been producing disturbing headlines in the UK for almost a month, and the signs are this is just the beginning. Since the scandal broke, 300 victims have told police that they were abused by BBC TV host Jimmy Savile, suggesting this number may yet rise.
Savile hosted TV shows, worked for charities and was even awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II. More than just a TV personality, he was a national institution. He was perhaps Britain’s answer to Dick Clark, hosting the UK’s equivalent of “American Bandstand,” the very British sounding “Top of the Pops.”
Savile died last year, but it is another institution, the one he worked for, that has become as much the focus of this scandal. The BBC says new allegations have been made against nine current BBC staff or contributors since the revelations about Savile. Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament: "These allegations do leave many institutions, perhaps particularly the BBC, with serious questions to answer."
It is difficult to exaggerate how fundamental the BBC is to British culture. It has the highest-rated radio stations. It runs one of the biggest TV channels. Its Web pages are the most-read. Its news is the most trusted. The BBC even has its own "sound" – a kind of posh, but not too posh, monotone adopted by all newsreaders. British children grow up with it.
Jimmy Savile abuse scandal stuns Britain: a who's who primer
Now, it is accused of turning its back while children were allegedly abused on its premises by a BBC star and others. One BBC show, “Jim’ll Fix It,” even invited children to write in and ask to be on TV. The access to legal minors has prompted comparisons to Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. It’s a scandal that is raising questions about the cult of celebrity and about how large prestigious institutions can offer pedophiles a place to hide.
One seemingly inexplicable aspect of what happened is that so many people now appear to have been aware that it was happening. In interviews, Savile was asked about whether he was a pedophile and denied it. Comedians told jokes about it. Yet for decades no one did anything to stop it. Perhaps all this is not just about the British Broadcasting Corporation but about British culture itself.
BBC ripped for handling of sex abuse scandal tied to former host
The BBC’s journalistic culture is also being questioned. The former director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, is soon to be chief executive of the New York Times. Under his leadership, and that of new BBC director-general George Entwistle, a BBC investigation into Savile was dropped last year. It took a rival network, ITV, to uncover the scandal.
It’s still not clear why the well-regarded show “Newsnight” dropped the investigation, and there is no suggestion that either Thompson or Entwistle were involved in a cover up. But, on top of the BBC’s failure to stop Savile, its shelving of his investigation has shocked the UK. The BBC’s journalism is fiercely independent; its own journalists have done much to make the Savile story headline news, but many of the questions are about the competency of BBC's management rather than individual reporters and producers.
Police believe former TV star Jimmy Savile, a national icon, may have been one of Britain's worst pedophile offenders. Some of Savile's alleged 300 victims had appeared on his TV shows. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.
The alleged abuse happened many years ago, in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. And the BBC is not the only organization involved. For example, Savile was allowed into children’s hospital wards. The police were asked to investigate on a number of occasions but failed to bring charges. What makes the allegations all the more disturbing to many Britons is that the BBC is funded through a tax paid by every British family with a television.
The BBC has faced serious crises before. In 2003, it was investigated after a controversial broadcast about the Iraq war that led to the suicide of a leading scientist. The public inquiry was so critical it lead to the resignation of the BBC’s then director-general. Ten years on, the BBC is still thriving. But it’s hard to imagine a more toxic claim than the allegation that the British Broadcasting Corporation allowed children to be abused by its employees. As another famous British bastion of journalism, The Economist, puts it this week, “From the height of so much esteem, it is a steep fall.”
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The BBC is part of the establishment, and British establishment defends their own - meaning itself first of all - no matter what.
Sir Anthony Blant, the saviour of Queen's paintings, and a relative of the Royal Family, was discovered to be for decades a Soviet spy and member of the Cambridge Five Communist spy ring in 1963. It took a Margaret Thutcher to call him a scumbag publicly in 1974... before that he was "debriefed' behind the scenes by secret services, and when he felt himself to tired or intimidated, he threatened them to go public!
That pattern can be easily the one in Saville case too. The BBC as institution has covered itself, not the pedophile. And their journalism became politically correct pinko rubbish long time ago. The two tendencies are tightly connected.
Absolute Bull.
People watch the BBC because it tells people what is truly going on in the rest of the World. Unlike US news channels which continually talk about America and then couch it under the headlines World News. Being told that Mitt Romney campaigned in Ohio today is not World news. In fact it isn't news. It's the same old repetitive brain washing Americentric rubbish. Tell people what's really happening in the World.
How do you know what the BBC is doing behind the scenes (facts with sources, not accusations, please).
And what does a 40-year-old incident in which nobody is in power anymore have to do with this particular scandal?
Explain yourself, Serge. Because so far, you're completely irrelevant.
get back on your meds.
Serge, sounds just like the White House under Clinton!
or under the GOP.
remember they've been in power two thirds of the years since reagan...
Concerned Citizen: Obviously a selective memory?? While Clinton was having his times , Newt was having his. Except, Newt's wife was fighting cancer. But, then again, ANYTHING passes for conservative in the USA, these days.
Do you mean Anthony Blunt?
Comment # 1 deleted, derail.
Does msnbc think we live under a rock? we know what the bbc is.
Here's what I want to know. How many of you have noticed that msn has been posting articles but it seems like on the most controversial articles, they do not allow comments or discussions on those articles? Have you people noticed that? I've been finding fewer and fewer stories here that allow me to talk to other people on-line about them and share my views. It's like they are attempting to control the news and segregate us from each other.
I'd rather see NBCnews edit, collapse, remove comments that insult others, troll, idiot, tin foil hat, wingnuts, meds, go back in the basement. Why is there so much animosity? It's depressing and worse, it might be an indicator of the kind of people we have become. For heaven's sake, lighten up, state your opinion and facts (which, I'm happy to say, are often useful and informative) and leave out the snide remarks.
And who is to be the judge? For example, it's possible what you consider someone wearing a "tin foil hat", is actually someone stating a fact. Censoring is never a good thing.
TheKhanKubla:
Yes, it appears msnbc is censoring and limiting speech, just as most media do. What I find so ironic is that they are the first ones to fight for their own freedom of speech, while attempting to control others.
Umm, NBC owns this website and these articles they can do whatever they like with them. They are not infringing on anyones free speech. That's like going to a newspaper and demanding to be in the opinions sections, and if they don't put you there they are somehow silencing you are infringing on your speech. Don't be ridiculous.
People say some pretty offensive and ridiculous things on threads and they don't have the man power to prune every single one. If you don't like the way they handle their threads then go to another site, there are usually dozens of sites with threads on the same article topic.
Oh and honestly, Segregating us from each other? Why is everything now always some sort of conspiracy? Just because you don't know the answer doesn't mean it is a conspiracy.
Msnbc owns the ball and makes up their own rules. When the rules change to the detriment of the fans who support their game, the fans will leave their game in favor of more popular and less one-sidedly rigged games.
It's unnecessary to prune comments when censorship is not being practiced. Isn't censorship what those other heathen countries do?
TheKhanKubla and Debi-1314897 and any others who are feeling like you are being forbidden your right to free speach. I have no idea of your age's but I come from a time long long ago. Before microwaves. Before color tv. Before cell phones. Before computers and the internet. Heck even before there were 4 networks let allone 100's where you could find a program on anything and everything.
There has never been a time when freedom of speach was been more free. In years past you couldn't voice your opinion to the world in just seconds. You could talk with friends around the water cooler or at different functions where a group of people were but not type your opinion for the world to see. Your right to free speach is not being infringed. Your not intitled to world wide access by the constitution.
The Kahn Kubla - It's happening in America too. Articles about the election that are controversial in a certain way. The links go to videos or articles with no comments section.
The few corporations controlling the news and limiting the comment portion of online media, is where the people's voice is being regressed to, the water cooler.
The exchange of knowledge and ideas is powerful, which is why governments shut down electronic communications during the Arab Spring.
Is there another news that is similar formatting to this one? One that doesn't lean so far left, something (I know this is a lot to ask for) but one that is impartial, just tells the news without adding their opinions, like they are an expert in the field. Maybe yahoo? I haven't tried them. I tried one called late it was too left, then I tried News Max and it was too far right. Even though I am with right wing, I don't want to hear other ppl just keep repeating my same views. And I'm sick of seeing front page news on this site about the newest way to dye your poodles hair esp. when there is actually breaking news going on, but if it's news going against Obama they either don't report it or bury it. Guess it's too much to ask for a website that is neutral and just reports the news, instead of just reporting their opinion of the news.
Only good thing from the BBC was The Benny Hill Show and The Office!
Monty Python's Flying Circus! My dad and I would watch that all the time on Saturday nights back in the 70's! You gotta love British humour, it's weird, but very creative!
Benny Hill wasn't BBC, troll.
According to wikipedia.org, "He remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV station ATV between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967. In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where it remained until cancellation in 1989..." He, in this case, refers to Benny Hill. Troll.
Oh, you're no fun anymore...
I have a DVD of "Pop Gear" from 1964. It was a movie showcasing the top artists from that year. I LOVE IT!! WOW! Sad to see Jimmy was such a creep! I do not tolerate anyone who is a pedephile! Amazing what you find out later. Oh well, I still love the show! Watch it sometime!:)
The man was a knighted celebraty, why should his name be tarnished. Do you think back in the 12 hundreds Lords faced punishments from breaking laws, no. This guy made a name for himself in a big way, and should be exempt from any legal action when he was alive, and further exempt from any tarnishment to his name in death. Celebraties need speacial rights reserved for them... It was as bad as when they were going after Michael Jackson in the US, leave the guy alone, he's made a name for hmself.
It's called "Joe Paterno disease".
So being famous means you can break the laws? Rape children?
god people just can't resist attacking joe. can you?
It's called the 13th century, not the 12 hundreds, and lords that did break laws were punished when caught.
I doubt if any of us can understand such a general term as 'abuse'. Is it violence like hitting, or sexual, and to what degree?
I was invited to go on a trip with a family, sitting in the back with their children, one a little girl around 3 yrs old. For some reason she was crying and miserable and climbed onto my lap. I cuddled her, whispered comfort, stroked her back, wiped her tears and when I kissed her hair on the top of her head the mother had her husband stop the car and they kicked me out. That was a long hitch-hike back. They passed the word, people glared at me in stores and I moved away.
I need to know more than just 'abuse'. If there's penetration, why are youths so slow to report? I mean, decades pass before such horrors in priest vestries, shower rooms, scout tents, and now, I guess, studio dressing rooms, are exposed. I damned sure I would scream about it immediately afterwards, but years and years later smells of law suit compensation. Surely it has to be nipped in the bud and only the kids can do it. In fact, why weren't those big tough football guys strong enough to escape?
There were so many homos in England that it was the first country to legalise it 1953 and buggery boomed. Morality collapsed in the '60s and tabloid circulation exploded with gorgeous topless photos on page 3 for the heteros.
Since Britain has never been cripplingly religious, only Victorian-type restraint kept us civil but when the flood gates burst the reputed frigid English turned sex-mad. I'm all for hetero liaisons, the rest of them leave me, well, frigid.
sickening
@ bro
It's hard to imagine whats worse, "the crime" or "the witnesses".
All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. by Edmund Burke.
There were rumors about Jerry Sandusky floating around for years, too, so the similarities between the cases are eerily similar, especially the heinous Cover-Up. BTW the number of young men suing Penn State has now risen to possibly 25. As only 1 in 40 cases get reported, that would make Sandusky's true number at over 800. In reality it could be higher.
you must have gone to psu to work those kinds of statistics. i think they mean only one out of 40 victims report their crimes, not that for every one offense reported there are 40 more from the same violator? 800 victims, wow that would take a lot of work.
Had to have all been rapes. Nobody would have willingly had sex with such a nasty, disgusting, ugly POS like him. Yuck.
In the 80's, there were 3 grand jurys that tried to break open the case called "The Franklin Scandal". The coverup apparatus for the "elite" was more powerful in those days. The 3 grand jurys failed. Now it seems like there is some major pedophile news in the headlines almost every day. It's fantastic that this stuff is finally coming to light. People aren't just blowing it off anymore. To get some insight, listen to "The Franklin Scandal" interview on Veritas Radio on the web. The interview is dated April 30, 2010.
This SOB needs to be stripped of his Knighthood and anything else he got while alive. Maybe the victims can get their money via his estate.
State sanctioned peds are nothing new but nice to see it come to light.
Need look no further than the pervs at the vatican, a so called "state", for a couple thousand years of pederasts protecting their own.
GROSS. To be abused would be horrific. To be abused by "him" would be unimaginable.
yeah he looks like a monster, gotta admit.
I lived in London as a child, till i was 11. Weird people and culture. Very proper, don't want to cause a scene! From what i remember Men were very creepy, must be all the inbreeding! lol
it is an island everyone white is related one way or another.
Highest percentage of men cross dressing! Brits are a strange lot, bloody this and don't get your nickers in a bunch! HAHA
You're still a child, troll.
refugeek-- you seem to be the only troll on here tonight.
They used to smack the kids with rulers in my school, me included. When my mother went to talk to the principal she said " Children have to be disciplined! They have no rights!" Just like Pink Floyd another brick in the wall" How can you have any pudding? You havent eaten your meat!" Evil head school Masters.. Got off beating the kids. Backwards country
Corporal punishment used to be a normative in American public schools too, and in some schools in Texas, it is an option the kids can choose over detention.
yeah when I went to middle school in San Antonio in the early 70s we had a vice-principal named (of all things) Mr. Steed. I got caught for some stupid vandalism type stuff (messed up the supply closet of the art teacher i was basically in great admiration of) and had to go see old Mr. Steed. He talked for a while and then said "We- Well, son, it looks a-- as if I'm a gonna have ta wheep ya!" And he did, with this big long paddle with holes in it etc. Punishment is big in texas.
Same history as Charlie & Daniel: But really, take corporal punishment or what's happening today??
Today they are suspended with no chance to pass, charged with actual crimes where a paddle had sufficed???
Who profits? The system, lawyers, and the administrators of the policies.
one set of rules for the elite and one set for the commoners. Just like in the good ol USA.
Penn State, The Boy Scouts of America, The Vatican, et al. And now the BBC . . . the hits just keep on coming. But these situations are only a small fraction of the proberbial "tip of the iceberg". As the stigma of being sexually molested lessens more and more, there will be many other scandals.
The bad aspect about pedophiles is that their pattern of bahavior can't be changed. Can't -- there is no cure. These sick individuals are entrenched in societies throughout the world and even have secret gathering places on the Internet and in real life. They know all the buzz words, actions and tricks to attract kids and they trade that information freely among each other. And those are just the so-called "organized" pedophiles. It's very hard to trust anyone anymore -- including family members. I find myself scrutinizing people a whole lot more than I did before. Yet I don't even know what sort of "signs" I'm looking for because they all look like my best friend.
It's a hard pill to swallow to witness the disgrace of organizations and insitutions we always thought were more than safe for our kids. But the "safest" places were the most dangerous. Pedophiles are right down there with the rest of the bottom feeders, yet I don't have a clue as to how to stop it. And, it would seems, nobody else does either.
Penn State, Boys Scouts, etc. You left out accused pedophile, Sylvain Kustyan, formally charged with two counts of 1st Degree Sodomy of a ten-year-old little boy. In his capacity as an elementary/ middle-school teacher, he, too, has had easy access to little boys. This 6'-7" giant, Kustyan, is currently on the lam and thought to be back in his native France, which has a No-Extradition Policy.
@PTByrd;Do you know who Pedophiles, Molesters, Rapist, and Sex Offenders? They are your Father, brother uncle, priest, policemen, Firemen, Doctors, Lawyers, Senators, They are any man walking down the street today, you say they are bottom feeders, and don't know how to tell them apart. Here how you can see them. Just look at any man, even your husband, if you got one. They are (MEN) and all Men like sex reguardless of age or gender, and here is one true way of women to stop this problem, and that is have a Dr. Castrate all baby boy's at birth. And so I have just one question for you. Did you get here like the baby jesus, or did your Pedophile FATHER have sex with your mother? Because this is what Men do, not all but most, and they even have sex with dead people, and even with animals, so how do you and other women stop this madness, just kill all the Men in the world. Oh but if you do that Ha! Ha!.
Interesting observations about London, Beentheredonethat! Maybe child abuse is pretty rampant in Britain possibly. I don't know. But I've read that incidence bullying is considered highest in all the world in Britain (I think I read that in Wikipedia), which suggests child battering and rape is quite common in that country. Oh, Wikipedia also claimed Britain had highest density of people considered eccentric in all the world also. Interesting!
I have a similar view about the phenomenon of people with 'transgender issues'. I think this is also possibly rooted in childhood trauma. Perhaps different circumstances and types of trauma as well as the timing of those events leads to different outcomes. Homosexuality might possibly also come under this umbrella of outcomes. Homosexuality and paedofilia have all struck me as types of underdeveloped sexuality. I might also mention necrophilia as being another possible outcome of childhood trauma.
Instead of merely condemning people who exhibit these behaviors, it is important that we investigate. Shaming and physically punishing people merely encourages them into hiding their intentions and motivations. By determining the underlying root causes, we can come up with a better way to prevent these behaviors from emerging again.
Yes, there are two kinds of sexual abuse victims.
Sociopaths like Sandusky who rather than visit some attractive young prostitutes to deal with their issues at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada, Amsterdam, or Thailand pass the buck on to someone else.
And empaths who do not use their own trauma as an excuse to victimize someone else.
This guy like Sandusky was obviously a sociopath.
A sociopath who is also a sexual abuse victim is very likely going to offend someone else unless they are identified for both risk factors and receive counseling.
Bastards everywhere, and none that I can kill.
It's just not legal.
One can only hope that he will express a desire to be housed with the general population in prison like Sandusky.
It may not be legal for us to kill him, but they won't care about things like law.
He died last year, you nitwit.
See my post 4 posts down with timestamp 7:01. Your post was at 8:13. Way ahead of you stoopid.
Brits are Fags!
Yeah but they seem to make a lot of moola out of it. Not like here in the US where all you get is a damn chicken sandwich, and you gota pay for it.
This coming out after he is dead and can't defend himself - not right. How can you really silence 300+ people who are adults now? We need to realize the money these people stand to make, and how motivating that sort of thing is. I mean, everyone may be saying to themselves "he did it to that other kid, and if there is going to be a settlement why not"??? If everything thinks this about everyone else then you could have a self-perpetuating lie.
I really don't know all the details, but this is my 2 cents - I am sure people will disagree. I just thinking to raise this issue when someone is dead is tough since his reputation will be destroyed without him being able to answer these accusations.
Oh, NVM he's already dead. Too late.
Dim bulb, eh?
old faulty wiring. sparks goin to the wrong circuit. hell on cheesecake when he gets up seven times a night, though.
300 Kids and nobody new about it? I don't think so. There are more into it or they know what was going on and just wasn't telling.
People like this guy, ought to be shot in the head and forget about the court system.
read the above about faulty wiring.
1. It's about his power, ego, image and the $$ that he was making for everyone that would have disappeared. His grandeur put him above the rules.
2. It's embarassing for the girls, and especially for their families who put image above all else. They were probably forbidden to talk about it.
3. If you do talk about it, you lose all your friends, contacts and even family members who treat you like you have leprosy. It makes people afraid or people assume you are just wanting attention or $$ as evidenced above. That's not it. I've been the 'outcast' for speaking up about secrets for a long time.
4. Predators like him are just the tip of the iceberg. goofyaesop.blogspot if you need something to consider.
Sad that the British had wait till he was dead and proper before they had any chance to knock down that monster...
Concentration of power and influence always ends up hurting innocent people. While this is awful, i bet it pales in comparison to the catholic church, especially since this kind of abuse is still ongoing in the church, and those that work in the church and know about it lack the balls to stop it. Its incredible how they can claim to speak for God, yet they refuse to fight to protect the innocent.