BBC executive resigns after saying TV report was wrong

LONDON -- The BBC's top executive resigned Saturday night after the prestigious broadcaster's marquee news magazine wrongly implicated a British politician in a child sex-abuse scandal. The events plunged the network into further uncertainty amid a controversy that exploded after it decided not to air similar allegations against one of its own stars, who police now say was one of nation's worst pedophiles.

In a brief statement outside BBC headquarters, George Entwistle stepped down after just eight weeks in the job. Last month he was faced with his first crisis due to the growing scandal revolving around Jimmy Savile, a renowned BBC TV host who died last year and who is alleged to have sexually abused numerous young people.

In addition to the troubling possibility that Savile might have used his position -- and BBC premises -- to carry out assaults, the scandal further jolted BBC because its "Newsnight" investigative program decided to shelve its own report on Savile. Entwistle promised to get to the bottom of the decision.

But the furor was reignited when the same program aired a report Nov. 2 about alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. Victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure.

The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords, who issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue.

Messham then said he was mistaken about his abuser's identity and apologized to McAlpine, prompting fury over the BBC's decision to air the report, the suspension of investigative programs at "Newsnight" and questions about Entwistle's leadership.

Entwistle had insisted he was not aware of the program before it was broadcast. But that stand drew incredulity from politicians and media watchers wondering how he could have allowed a second botched handling of a high-profile child sex-abuse story so soon after the Savile disclosure.

The BBC Trust's chairman, Chris Patten, called Saturday "one of the saddest evenings of my public life" but praised Entwistle's "honor and courage" in tendering his resignation.

"At the heart of the BBC is its role as a trusted global news organization, and as the Editor-in-Chief of this organization, George has very honorably offered us his resignation because of the unacceptable mistakes and the unacceptable shoddy journalism which has caused so much controversy," Patten said.

British Culture Secretary Maria Miller welcomed the resignation, calling it "regrettable but the right decision."

"It is vital that credibility and public trust in this important national institution is restored. It is now crucial that the BBC puts the systems in place to ensure it can make first class news and current affairs programs," she said.