The director of news and her deputy, Stephen Mitchell, “stepped aside” just a few days after director general George Entwistle, resigned late on Saturday.
Entwistle will receive a full year’s salary of £450,000 – despite only being in the job for 54 days, reports The Guardian.
The BBC confirmed Boaden and Mitchell were stepping away from day-to-day management of BBC News this morning, with a statement saying:
“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.”
“Helen Boaden has decided that she is not in a position to undertake this responsibility until the Pollard review has concluded.
“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.”
Despite rumours that Newsnight would be axed, Karen O’Connor, a former deputy editor of the BBC2 programme, has returned as acting editor to oversee the programme for the time being.
