BBC Under Fire: MP Says George Entwistle's Enormous Pay Off Is "hard To Justify"

For anyone that isn't glued to the news, the escalation of the Savile scandal is nigh on impossible to keep up with, and the destruction has spread its tentacles far and wide, with at least two known arrests having already been made; Gary Glitter and Freddie Star, plus the defamatory slur against Alistair McAlpine. Now, George Entwhistle, ex-director in general of the BBC, was effectively forced into resignation on Saturday night (10th Nov. 2012) after the heat became just a bit too much.

Having failed to properly make any headway in the amendment for the injustices committed to Lord McAlpine, after effectively being wrongfully accused of paedophilia on the Beeb's Newsnight, resignation was the natural way forward. Entwhistle engaged in what the Daily Mail describes as 'disastrous interviews' before finally resigning. However, despite the BBC Board of Trustees admitting that they were considering the 'option of termination', it turns out that Entwhistle will be leaving with the full £450,000 annual paycheck, as well as being awarded the enormous £1.3m severance payout, including a pension pot of over £800,000.

It really does seem odd to reward the man who has inadvertently helped drag the name of the BBC through the mud- or at least been ineffective to stop it. Lord Pattern has defended this saying "In circumstances where we needed to conclude matters quickly and required George's ongoing co-operation in a number of very difficult and sensitive matters, including the inquiries into issues associated with Savile, I concluded that a consensual resignation on these terms was clearly the better route."

Chair of the Common's media select committee, John Whittingdale backed this up, saying "'The alternative was long drawn-out discussions and continuing uncertainty at a time when the BBC needs all of its focus to be on resolving fundamental issues of trust in BBC journalism." The Media Minister, Maria Miller disagrees strongly. "The circumstances of his departure make it hard to justify the level of severance money that has been agreed." She said.

The BBC is coming under fire left right and centre, and despite this bombardment being justified, the focus seems to be moving further and further away from the 'real victims'. Despite the Telegraph citing Lord McAlpine as being the one most damaged and most forgotten about amid all the controversy, everyone seems to have forgotten the children (now adults) who are at the root of all of this, that the BBC's lax approaches to journalism failed, and to whom justice is most deserved.