Helen Boaden and Stephen Mitchell “Step Aside”

The BBC have announced that the Director of News Helen Boaden and the Deputy Director of News Stephen Mitchell will “step aside” until the conclusion of the Pollard review.

The news comes after Ken MacQuarrie, Director of BBC Scotland, reported his findings into the Newsnight broadcast on 2 November 2012.

The following actions have been announced by the corporation…

1. To address the lack of clarity around the editorial chain of command, a decision has been taken to re-establish a single management to deal with all output, Savile related or otherwise.

2. Helen Boaden has decided that she is not in a position to undertake this responsibility until the Pollard review has concluded. During this period Fran Unsworth will act as Director of News. In line with this decision, Ceri Thomas will act on a temporary basis as Deputy Director in place of Stephen Mitchell.

3. To address the pressure on the Newsnight team Karen O’Connor has agreed to take on the role of Acting Editor of Newsnight.

4. Consideration is now being given to the extent to which individuals should be asked to account further for their actions and if appropriate, disciplinary action will be taken.

The BBC also added that neither Helen Boaden nor Stephen Mitchell had anything at all to do with the failed Newsnight investigation into Lord McAlpine.