Incredibly upsetting piece about the BBC and Savile

I really question the motives of the BBC in the making of this programme about JS. Seems to me they want to get out in front of it and control the narrative, playing down the parts that make them look the worst, or even details that aren’t common knowledge but could become so if say… Channel 4 dramatised it. I don’t trust them an inch.

given that one of the witnesses currently calls for trans women to be killed on her website, I am not sure I agree.

So what?* Does that mean she can't be coerced into sex by TRAs? Are only the pure of heart allowed to be victims of rape?

*and I don't believe anything you post anyway.

It was more known at the time than anyone is prepared to acknowledge even now. Someone I worked with, who was quite senior in the BBC when JS died, called out the obituaries at the time and objected to them in senior meetings.

Also, nothing was a surprise to anyone who read Popbitch in its heyday. Although they are the only people to have talked about visits to the hospital mortuaries as well.

Thank you for posting that.
What a brave set of journalists.
I feel very angry about the way MacKean was treated.

I came on to say exactly the same as you TrevorFountain - she does deserve a blue plaque.

The woman who worked so hard to expose what was happening to the girls in Rotherham lost her job too. Blue plaque for her too.

It’s as though Power has an instinct and need to try to get rid of the agent behind its exposure especially if it was a woman.

It is so awful to think that vulnerable children who are likely to be problem children who have done something wrong can be so easily abused because the CPS will say they are not credible witnesses.

Predators choose the vulnerable who aren’t likely to be believed or, if they are, are easy to write off as ‘bad’ teens indulging in high risk behaviour rather than being viewed as victims.

This is such an important point. When you look at the big cases of repeated child abuse - or even abuse of adults - the victims are so often people who are less likely to be believed: children in children's homes or behavioural units; very young, pre-verbal children; children with criminal records; children or adults with learning disabilities. And of course abusers target those groups for those very reasons. I find it hard to begin to convey the rage I feel about this.

It was

It at the very early stages when only the women who had been living at a children’s home as girls had spoken out. It’s the same kind of attitude from the BBC towards them as that of the police and social services towards those who were targeted by grooming gangs in Rochdale etc. much more recently. Predators choose the vulnerable who aren’t likely to be believed or, if they are, are easy to write off as ‘bad’ teens indulging in high risk behaviour rather than being viewed as victims.

It makes me so angry how Saville's so called contribution to entertainment and pu lic life were repeatedly considered more important than the lives of women and children which were forever marred by his abuse. So many knew, so many ignored, disbelieved, so many chances for him to be stopped. It is by their actions ( or inaction) thst we shall know them, shame on them.

Me too.

Calling the rape of at least 450 children a 'sleb expose' is so blind, it's difficult to believe.

I sincerely hope that when they get a chance to redeem themselves in the reckoning, Liz features prominently as well as the victims.

I hope it's not just an opportunity for Steve Coogan to be controversial.

I wonder if it would have been a different story if those 450 children had all been boys.

That is an alarmingly good idea...

It's very upsetting. I did wonder if the Guardian was one of the news outlets that declined the story.

Regarding child abuse as a ‘celebrity sex expose’. I just can’t express how furious that makes me.

Nice that Peter Rippon got a cushy BBC job after his handling of this. I’d imagine that’s for keeping his mouth shut about exactly who told him to kill the story and who was putting pressure on them.

Liz Maclean and Meirion Jones did good work and acted with integrity.

And has the Guardian published anything at all about the cotton ceiling story? Are they just going to pretend it didn't happen and hope it goes away?

The resonance for me was about how women are disbelieved, sidelined and not considered important. RIP Liz.

Hilarias - some of his victims were boys. Not many, but some.

I never knew before that Saville’s victims were all girls - I’ve always read it reported as ‘children’ or ‘kids’.

It is a very good depiction of how media works with egos jostling to get their work to the front and lots of calculation to work out whose coat-tails to ride on to get to the top. Plus the blinkered views of bosses and snap decisions that mean good ideas, and important stories are binned

Liz MacKean deserves a blue plaque

That is a stunning piece. Well done to the journalist who wrote it abs RIP Liz MacKean.

The BBC should read it and weep with shame.

Should Definitely have photos of Liz and Meirion, not that disgusting creature.

Excellent article though eminently depressing. I was so sad to read Liz died so young - a tragedy.

Am I the only one who wishes they’d stop using photos of Saville?

No, it makes me sick too.

for this a photo of the hero Liz MacKean and the other journalist would be more fitting

You would think this and the recent Nolan report would make the guardian put two and two together?