英国广播公司(British Broadcasting Corp.，简称BBC)在周末期间陷入了混乱，该公司的最高管理人士因对两则有关性侵犯的报道处理不当而辞职，而BBC监督机构的主席则呼吁对这家公司进行“彻底、结构性和全面改革”。

ReutersBBC总裁乔治?恩特威斯尔乔治?恩特威斯尔(George Entwistle)上周六晚间辞去了BBC总裁的职务，此时距他出任这一职务仅有55天。他称自己辞职的理由是BBC的时事节目《新闻之夜》(Newsnight)在11月2日那天所展示出的“不可接受的新闻从业标准”，这档节目那天不正确地指控一名前保守党官员在威尔士对儿童进行了性侵犯。

BBC信托会(BBC Trust)的主席彭定康(Chris Patten)周日呼吁对BBC进行改革。BBC信托会负责对这家广播公司进行监督。他说，一种孤立的和官僚主义的文化导致BBC的管理人士逃避责任，并导致这家机构出现了他所称的“不可接受的劣质新闻工作”。

在谈到恩特威斯尔的辞职时，彭定康说：我认为他感觉到自己应为损坏了《新闻之夜》节目形象的糟糕新闻工作负责。他说，具有讽刺意味的一点是，恩特威斯尔自己曾经是 《新闻之夜》节目的一名出色而成功的编辑。BBC信托会的一名发言人说，恩特威斯尔将获得一笔45万英镑（合71.5万美元）的离职金，这是他一年的工资。

BBC Audio and Music部门的负责人蒂姆?戴维(Tim Davie)被任命为BBC的代理总裁，他将任职到BBC信托会找到恩特威斯尔的继任人选为止。

BBC的一名发言人说，恩特威斯尔拒绝对本文发表评论。恩特威斯尔在他上周六发表的辞职声明中说：鉴于BBC的总裁也是BBC的总编辑并要为BBC的所有内容最终负责这一事实……，我认为体面的事就是我自己下台。

目前这种情形使BBC遭遇了其90年历史上最大一场危机。BBC每年获得36亿英镑（合57亿美元）的许可费收入，英国强制规定国内的电视机拥有者缴纳这笔费用，因此这家广播公司需接受公众的监督。许多英国人将 BBC称为“姨妈”或Beeb。

BBC目前是英国最大的新闻机构，也是全世界最大的新闻机构之一，它有约20,000名员工，年收入为51亿英镑，其业务范围从调查性新闻工作到拍摄故事片，涉及许多领域。由于其规模庞大，所以一个人是难以监督到BBC所有产品的。

这家广播公司近年来已遭遇过数起丑闻，其中包括其明星和高管所获高薪引发的争议，以及该公司被控在挑选影视记者时有年龄和性别偏向等，但BBC都有惊无险地过了关。

但对BBC损害最大的一直是那些与其新闻采集活动有关的丑闻，新闻采集是该公司公共服务使命的核心内容。BBC在2004年曾发生过董事长和总裁双双辞职的事，辞职的原因是BBC当时的一篇报道说英国政府曾蓄意夸大一份有关伊拉克大规模杀伤性武器的档案材料，这件事引起了轩然大波。此后一项公开调查得出结论说，BBC的这个报道没有事实根据，报道称BBC的编辑政策是有缺陷的。

由于《新闻之夜》栏目11月2日上述报道，现在又有针对BBC的类似指控出现。

The British Broadcasting Corp. was plunged into disarray over the weekend as its top executive resigned over the mishandling of two sex-abuse reports and the chairman of its supervisory body called for 'a thorough, structural, radical overhaul' of the broadcaster.

George Entwistle resigned as BBC director-general late Saturday after just 55 days on the job, citing 'unacceptable journalistic standards' that current-affairs program 'Newsnight' displayed on Nov. 2, when it improperly accused a former Conservative Party official of committing child sex abuse in Wales.

Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, which supervises the broadcaster, on Sunday called for an overhaul of the BBC. He said a siloed and bureaucratic culture had led managers to shirk responsibility and resulted in what he had described as 'unacceptable shoddy journalism.'

Regarding Mr. Entwistle's resignation, 'I think he felt he should take responsibility for the awful journalism which disfigured that 'Newsnight' program,' Mr. Patten said. 'One of the ironies is that he was a brilliantly successful editor of 'Newsnight' himself for some time.' A trust spokeswoman said Mr. Entwistle would receive a year's salary, ￡450,000 ($715,000), as a payout tied to his resignation.

Tim Davie, director of BBC Audio and Music, was appointed acting BBC director-general until the trust finds a successor for Mr. Entwistle.

A BBC spokesman said Mr. Entwistle declined to comment for this article. 'In the light of the fact that the director general is also the editor in chief and ultimately responsible for all content…I have decided that the honorable thing to do is to step down,' Mr. Entwistle said in his statement Saturday.

The situation presents one of the biggest crises in the history of the 90-year-old broadcaster. The BBC derives ￡3.6 billion ($5.7 billion) in annual funding from licenses that are mandatory in the U.K. for owners of television sets, opening the broadcaster to public scrutiny. Many Britons refer to the national institution as 'Auntie' or 'the Beeb.'

The BBC is by far the biggest news organization in the U.K. and among the largest in the world, with about 20,000 employees, annual income of ￡5.1 billion and operations that range from investigative journalism to making feature films. Its sheer size makes it difficult for one person to oversee all the BBC's output.

The broadcaster has weathered several scandals in recent years, including controversy over the high pay of its stars and executives, and accusations of age and sex bias in selecting on-air talent.

The most damaging scandals, however, have been those tied to the BBC's newsgathering operation, which sits at the heart of the British network's mission of public service. The broadcaster's chairman and the director-general both resigned in 2004 amid an uproar over a BBC report saying the British government purposefully 'sexed up' a dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A public inquiry ruled that the report had been unfounded and described the BBC's editorial policies as defective.

Now similar accusations are again being leveled against the BBC in relation to the Nov. 2 'Newsnight' report.