Peter William Rippon (born 22 August 1965) is a British broadcasting executive. He is the editor of the BBC Online Archive. He was previously the editor of BBC Television's current affairs programme Newsnight, but he departed due to the controversy over his decision not to broadcast a posthumous investigation into the sexual abuse allegations against Jimmy Savile.
Early life
editRippon was born in Henley-on-Thames.[1] He is the son of Robin Rippon and Susan Westcott. He has an older sister and younger brother and sister.
Rippon attended the Gillotts School,[1] a comprehensive school, in Henley on Thames in the South Oxfordshire district of south-eastern Oxfordshire.
Rippon graduated from the University of East Anglia (UEA) with a BA in Philosophy and Politics,[2] and gained an MSc in International Politics[3] from the University of Southampton.
BBC career
editRippon joined the BBC in 1989 as a trainee. At Radio 4 he became (concurrently) the editor of The World At One, PM, iPM, Broadcasting House and The World This Weekend. He has also edited Newshour for the BBC World Service. Rippon's programmes have won numerous awards including Sony Gold in 2007 for interactivity for PM.[4]
Moving into television, on 7 November 2008 he was appointed the editor of Newsnight.[5] The previous editor, Peter Barron, became Head of PR for Google in the UK.
In 2011, it was found by BARB that the Newsnight audience was on average around 450,000.[citation needed] Ten years previously it was around 1 million. When Rippon was editor, Newsnight was named news programme of the year by the Royal Television Society (2012). It also won Emmy (2009, 2011) and Peabody (2010) awards under his leadership.
Newsnight item about Jimmy Savile
editIn late 2011, Rippon spiked[6] an item about the history of the suspected paedophile Jimmy Savile on Newsnight.[7] Rippon argued that the decision was in part based on the Crown Prosecution Service reporting a lack of evidence. Internal emails revealed that his concern was over the fact that the only evidence was from "the women". His editor's blog gives the background of why he, at the time, came to the conclusions that he did.[8] In October 2012, Rippon stepped aside from his role as editor pending an independent review into his decision to drop the investigation into Savile.[9] The Pollard Review into the incident investigated the decision exhaustively.[10] It concluded that Rippon's decision not to air the item was "flawed" but "done in good faith" and without undue pressure from his bosses. Rippon disagreed that his evidence was flawed, setting out his reasons in evidence to the inquiry.[11] In October 2012, the chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, when interviewed on Radio 4's The Media Show about the Savile affair, remarked "Peter Rippon is a very distinguished editor who broke the story about service companies which we've been having to deal with ever since."[12]
References
edit- ^ a b John Plunkett "Peter Rippon: Newsnight editor thrown into centre of Jimmy Savile row", The Guardian, 22 October 2012
- ^ "BA Philosophy and Politics Undergraduate Study – UEA". www2.uea.ac.uk.
- ^ "Taught Degrees | Politics and International Relations | University of Southampton". www.southampton.ac.uk.
- ^ "Inside the BBC".
- ^ "BBC – Press Office – Peter Rippon appointed Editor of Newsnight". www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ Ponsford, Dominic (29 July 2015). "Meirion Jones: 'Everyone on right side of the Savile argument has been forced out of the BBC'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
- ^ Sabbagh, Dan; Halliday, Josh (1 October 2012). "Jimmy Savile: Newsnight editor blocked airing of sexual assault story". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
- ^ "BBC – The Editors". www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "BBC Newsnight editor steps aside over Jimmy Savile claims". BBC News. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- ^ "The Pollard Review }publisher=BBC".
- ^ Pollard Review evidence
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 – The Media Show, Lord Patten – Jimmy Savile". BBC.