New NY Times CEO — Making a Scandal out of Nothing

As part of his reward for running the editorial operations of The New York Times, Bill Keller has his own column on the paper’s op-ed page. Keller used his most recent offering to mention that Rupert Murdoch had taken a swipe at the new New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) CEO Mark Thompson, who ran the BBC during a period when popular music show host Jimmy Savile was on the network’s payroll. Savile sexually abused women over a period that may have lasted six decades. Perhaps Thompson knew about it, or should have.

To make his opinion of the former BBC host as clear as possible, Keller wrote, “America has Jerry Sandusky. Britain has Jimmy Savile.” A football coach and music show host, bound together forever for immoral behavior. Savile only escaped the law by dying.

Of course, Keller knows virtually nothing about the BBC probe into Savile or to what extent there was a cover-up. He also has absolutely no reason to mention Mark Thompson’s name, even if the original link was made by Murdoch. Perhaps Thompson knew something about Savile, but Keller can hardly claim to suppose he has any information about that at all.

Thompson decided to disarm the potential link between him and any knowledge about Savile, and even issued at statement, which is something he should not have to do:

I have no reason to doubt the public statement by the program’s editor, Peter Rippon, that the decision not to pursue the investigation was entirely his, and that it was made solely for journalistic reasons.

During my time as director general of the BBC, I never heard any allegations or received any complaints about Jimmy Savile.

Thompson clearly believes there is a presumption in some quarters that he turned a blind eye to the situation, or should have been more diligent as a moral godfather to the BBC.

The sorry aspect of Keller’s column is that, when he ran the Times’s newsroom, he would never have let the allegation into print without some supporting facts. The New York Times is too responsible to have done that. But Keller is a columnist now, and his old ethics for some reason have disappeared in the transition.

Douglas A. McIntyre