Be careful using the 'L' word

Probably the worst thing that anyone can be accused of is lying.

But, they don't pull any punches at www.bbclocalradioforum.co.uk.

Even when it involves the former Director General of the BBC. 

The man under scrutiny by Tiger and Darcysarto is Mark Thompson. 

Tiger writes: 

Sorry to use the L word but I am sick and tired of words like misleading, inaccuracy, incomplete etc. Mark Thompson has lied. He said 4 weeks ago that he absolutely knew nothing about Savile at all.

She then quotes, I think, from a Daily Mail story from October 7:

"Mr Thompson, who stood down last month, yesterday broke his silence on the row to insist he had not even heard ‘rumours’ about the former DJ.

He also insisted he did not have any role in the decision to drop a BBC Newsnight investigation into claims Savile sexually assaulted girls as young as 14.

Mr Thompson said: ‘I had no involvement whatsoever not to pursue the Newsnight investigation. I understood that was a decision taken by the Newsnight editor.

‘I never heard of any rumours nor received any complaints or allegations (about Jimmy Savile) while I was Director General at the BBC.’ 

But his comments contradict the BBC’s own press office which said yesterday that Mr Thompson was told about the Newsnight investigation into Savile early last December."

Now Thompson has admitted that he was told about Newsnight and he then discussed it with senior BBC staff."

And then adds: 

Surely the fact that he lied is critical to what has happened?

Later in the thread, Darcysarto (never one to be outdone), chips in that "his pants are on fire".

So, this is strong stuff. 

Let's examine exactly what Tiger is alleging, and whether it stands up to close scrutiny.

Firstly, she is quoting a Daily Mail story and their interpretation of events. This is important as what matters are the quotes from Mark Thompson, not the angle the newspaper has taken. 

Tiger writes that Mark Thompson stated four weeks ago that "he knew nothing about Savile at all". In actual fact, this is her interpretation, rather than what he actually said. Which was: 

"‘I had no involvement whatsoever not to pursue the Newsnight investigation. I understood that was a decision taken by the Newsnight editor. I never heard of any rumours nor received any complaints or allegations (about Jimmy Savile) while I was Director General at the BBC. "

Now, my interpretation of this quote is that he is referring to two things. Firstly, he had never heard any rumours, complaints or allegations about Savile while Director General. Entirely separate to that, he was made aware of a Newsnight investigation into Savile, but had no involvement in it being dropped.

The Daily Mail claims "his comments contradict the BBC’s own press office which said yesterday that Mr Thompson was told about the Newsnight investigation into Savile early last December." But this is their interpretation, rather than what he said. Remember, he stated:  ‘I had no involvement whatsoever not to pursue the Newsnight investigation. I understood that was a decision taken by the Newsnight editor.' Surely this is him confirming he was aware?

Further, the BBC itself states in a story on October 23rd: "A spokesman for former BBC director general Mark Thompson, commenting on questions put to him by the Times, said Mr Thompson was asked by a journalist at a party late last year about a Newsnight investigation into Savile - which he had until then been unaware of, he said. He later mentioned the conversation "to senior colleagues in BBC News and asked if there was a problem with the investigation" but was told it had been dropped by Newsnight for journalistic reasons.The first time he became aware of the allegations that Jimmy Savile had committed serious crimes and that some of these crimes had taken place in the course of his employment at the BBC was when he heard the pre-publicity for the ITV investigation. This was after he had stepped down as director-general."

Given this clarification, it is not, in my view, possible to conclude that Mr Thompson lied. 

And that is exactly why media organisations are using words such as "misleading" and "contradictory" and "doubt". Because they have to abide by laws of defamation- a fact sadly lost on Tiger, Darcysarto and the forum administrator. 

And www.bbclocalradioforum.co.uk had better hope that Mr Thompson's lawyers don't stumble across their thread and decide to take action. Otherwise, it could prove quite costly.