Blushes at Beeb & erotic merger

The fall of a much-loved celebrity can be soul destroying — and should compel us all to look within and question why we treat celebrities like gods who can do no wrong. The details that Jimmy Savile, a former BBC presenter (who anchored shows like Top of the Pops) was a paedophile have left the United Kingdom shocked and horrified.

Millions of TV viewers who grew up adoring Savile are confused and angry at how he had been allowed to continue on his predatory ways while working at the respected broadcaster. Part of the frustration stems from the fact that he had been given every possible state honour and there is no way of stripping him of those as he died a few years ago. The punishment will now have to be borne by the BBC, by those who may have been complicit in his activities (all of whom are quite elderly now) and, of course, by the victims as they are forced to relive the
horrors of their childhood when they were used and abused by Jimmy and his cohorts.
With his flamboyant, and “groovy” 70s look, the long-haired Savile was a cult figure, who had also built an image of a dedicated philanthropist, giving generously to charities. So many of the institutions (including girls’ schools and hospitals), which he supported, may have kept quiet even when young girls complained to the authorities about how he had treated them. The exploitation took place both at the premises of the BBC as well as other institutions when Savile visited them for “charitable” purposes.
Celebrities are often accused of taking advantage of the lesser mortals around them and this has led to a whole host of sins being constantly forgiven. So the revelations about Jimmy Savile threaten to turn into something much murkier than was understood thus far. The national broadcaster BBC is squarely in the dock for even allegedly not permitting a film about his misdeeds to go on air. Indeed, embarrassingly, it now seems many people knew about his serial sexual exploitation — but few did anything about it.
Unlike in India where our respect for the dead and for national heroes will not allow us to examine their seamier side, in the UK the police has not hesitated to open an investigation. Now it appears that more people, other than Savile, might have been involved in the paedophilic abuse at the BBC. The police has over 20 well-known figures in their sights and has already begun arrests. More than 300 victims were allegedly abused by Savile and others (and thousands of more complaints are pouring in). Suddenly the image of the grand-old lady of broadcasting is beginning to look tarnished and tatty. How could someone who anchored programmes for children and was presumably on their side be so violent and sexually exploitative and yet be presented as popular anchor?
As the BBC reels from the shock of the revelations, Savile’s 4.3 million-pound estate is being kept frozen as it is now apparent that claims will be made by those who had suffered abuse. The BBC is also trying to see if it can go in for some charity measures to counter its image destruction, but it is also geared for a series of resignations. It is a sad and sorry time as one discovers the difference between the façade and the reality.
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to going to Belfast this weekend to participate on the Sunday Morning Live show for the BBC. Each time the programme has a wide range of stimulating topics and they take care to get plenty of opinions so that a good argument follows on social issues. Of course there will be the shadow of the Savile affair hanging over everything but the Beeb, nickname for the BBC, is a very professional broadcaster and will no doubt eventually survive this terrible storm.

In US, Hurricane Sandy has had some undoubted effect on the presidential elections. One rather sorry figure to emerge from the devastation is Shashank Tripathi, a person of Indian origin who was caught sending scare-mongering tweets about the impact of Sandy in New York, allegedly grossly exaggerating facts. Followed by thousands, the Republican campaigner has been shown up as a liar, misusing the social media to possibly downplay the administration’s attempt to handle the hurricane, by making things seem even worse than they actually were.
Mr Tripathi used a false identity called @ComfortablySmug and tweeted some of the most frightening rumours, including “BREAKING: MTA announces NYC subways will be closed for remainder of the week. All major lines are flooded and will require repair”. According to the Guardian, the hedge fund manager was working for the New York Republican Candidate, Christopher Wright, and was outed and then forced to apologise and barred from any further campaign work. Those who live by tweets must ultimately die by them as well.

While there is huge excitement about the merger of the two big publishing houses, Penguin and Random House, not everyone is happy about it in the UK publishing world. There is a sense of disquiet and despair as Penguin Books is a very British brand, launched in 1935 by Allen Lane and was one of the last of the bigger and better-established British publishers. The controlling stake will now be held by the German group, Bertelsmann, which owns Random House. This essentially means that while there are other British publishing houses, like Bloomsbury and Faber, these are not large enough compared to the new giant. Perhaps partly responsible for the merger is the success of the bestselling Fifty Shades series. Who would have thought erotic literature would have such a major impact not just on sexual unions but also on media conjunctions as well?