Jonathan Dimbleby, one of the BBC's most revered journalists, has said he fears the corporation resembles a "rudderless ship heading towards the rocks", as the crisis engulfing the BBC following the latest Newsnight fiasco threatens to end the career of the director general George Entwistle, just seven weeks after he stepped into the top job.
Senior politicians and former and current BBC staff have questioned whether Entwistle can survive after an excruciating performance on Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday when he admitted he was completely unaware of a Newsnight report that wrongly implicated the former Tory treasurer Lord McAlpine in child abuse, until the day following its broadcast.
The programme went out on Friday 2 November, but Entwistle was "out" when it was broadcast and even though rumours were swirling all week that the key witness may have mistakenly identified McAlpine, who is now threatening to sue, Entwistle remained oblivious.
He admitted to Humphrys he had not read a Guardian investigation, revealing the case of mistaken identity on Friday, or listened to the Today programme discussing the issue.
Dimbleby, presenter of Radio 4's Any Questions, said the latest Newsnight controversy, hot on the heels of the Jimmy Savile scandal, was taking its toll on the BBC. "I fear that the public will feel that the BBC is like a rudderless ship heading towards the rocks and I very much hope that someone seizes the helm quickly."
David Mellor, the former cabinet minister with responsibility for the BBC, said Entwistle came across as "so out of touch it made me think Winnie the Pooh would have been more effective." He added: "An entire field of management has failed here … Entwistle lacks credibility and he should go as soon as possible. I will be amazed if he is still there at the end of the week."
Entwistle's admission comes as the BBC Trust described the latest scandal threatening to engulf the corporation as "deeply troubling". He described the Newsnight report on the north Wales children's home scandal as "unacceptable" and warned that staff involved in the programme could face disciplinary action. But he said he would not be resigning or closing down Newsnight as this would be "disproportionate".
"We should not have put out a film that was so fundamentally wrong. What happened here is completely unacceptable," he told Humphrys.
His Today programme performance was described as that of a "train crash" by one senior presenter.
Paul Farrelly, a Labour member of the influential culture, media and sport select committee, said: "He is not only totally clueless, but seems divorced from the real world. He seems to lack basic curiosity and there now must be questions as to whether he is strong enough person to have his hand on the tiller."
Tory MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the committee, said there had been "failure of management at every level" at the BBC, while culture secretary Maria Miller said: "The events of the last few days only serve to underline the vital importance of restoring credibility."
Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman said it was "absolutely clear that something has gone badly wrong" at Newsnight.
George Carey, the first editor of Newsnight, said he felt that Entwistle was "relying on the system" to deliver the leadership instead of "picking up the phone" to find out what was going on.
Insiders say the Newsnight fiasco happened because the BBC had removed senior executives responsible for the programme from their posts while the inquiry into the first Newsnight scandal – why its Jimmy Savile investigation was dropped – was taking place.
They say morale at Newsnight was terrible all week and asked why an outside journalist was entrusted with carrying out an investigation into such a serious allegation as child abuse by a Tory close to Margaret Thatcher.
"This is completely terrible journalism, a terrible blow to the reputation of the programme. The sooner Nick Pollard reports on the Newsnight Jimmy Savile decision the better: they have got to sort this out quickly, get to the bottom of who said what, and be swift and tough. I can't believe everyone on the pay roll will be there in two months' time. This is not the time for sentimentality," said Will Wyatt, the former managing director of BBC Television.
Insiders say Newsnight has been in crisis for some time – it has been understaffed as posts are cut across news and current affairs programmes, and Entwistle, a former editor, may well have been aware of this. "They are all at each other's throats, blaming everyone. It is a programme lacking leadership, lacking good producers and reporters," said a journalist closely associated with it. It also suffers high turnover because ambitious young producers under the BBC system are essentially encouraged to move on quickly, undermining the base of expertise," the insider added.
There is talk that Newsnight may effectively be closed down and rebranded. "It is the end of Newsnight. The programme cannot survive a calamity like this," said one leading BBC presenter.
