David Elstein on the BBC and Savile

The news that the Guardian is moving towards compulsory redundancies amongst its journalists strengthens the impression that The Times's paywall represents the future model for quality journalism on the web.

So I won't moan too much about David Elstein's article about the BBC and Jimmy Savile being locked behind that wall. It is a very good article and here are a couple of quotes from it:

One shudders to think what might happen to hundreds of BBC staff were a fire to break out in Broadcasting House as executives argued whether the evidence of smoke was or was not conclusive proof of dangerous flames, and in whose department the safety regulations were held

And:

Before we go overboard about the excellent edition of Panorama on Monday, which Mr Entwistle lauded as evidence of the BBC's "unmatched" capacity to interrogate itself, let's not forget that it was a Panorama team that refused to be interviewed by the BBC Trust's interviewer, but provided only written submission, over a programme on child labour in the garment industry - an investigation that concluded that a key sequence in the film had likely been faked. No one was fired, or even disciplined, for that act of defiance. Perhaps Newsnight should investigate.

He is also very good on the corporation's "innate sense that it is above criticism" - something I shall return to in a future post.