UK Edition
Archbishop of Canterbury criticises BBC's handling of Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal
The BBC and the Archbishop of Canterbury have clashed over the broadcaster’s handling of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.
The Most Rev Justin Welby accused the BBC of failing to show the same "integrity" over the its failures with Savile as that displayed by Catholic and Anglican Churches.
But the corporation's supporters have hit back, pointing out that the church has been accused of trying to cover up its own sex abuse scandals.
The Archbishop made the comments in an interview for BBC Radio 4's Today programme in which he was reflecting on changes to society over the past 60 years.
He told the programme: "I think we are a kinder society, more concerned with our own failures, more willing to be honest where we go wrong. In most of our institutions, there are still dark areas."
But when asked which, he said: "If I'm really honest, I'd say the BBC is one. I haven't seen the same integrity over the BBC's failures over Savile as I've seen in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Church of England, in other public institutions over abuse.
"We may be proved wrong about that, but you know that's one area."
That prompted an angry response from one group of six victims of abuse in the Church of England, who said they did not recognise the archbishop's description of "integrity" from their own "bitter experience".
The group said: "Far from the 'rigorous response and self-examination' he claims, our experience of the church, and specifically the archbishop, is of long years of silence, denial and evasion.
"The Church of England needs to confront its own darkness in relation to abuse before confronting the darkness of others."
In 2016, the Dame Janet Smith Review into sexual abuse at the BBC identified 72 victims of Savile, who had been one of the corporation’s biggest stars during the Seventies and Eighties.
Savile carried out hundreds of assaults on young girls between 1959 to 2006. Much of the abuse took place in the Top of the Pops studios and other BBC premises, but the corporation missed opportunities to stop it and ignored warnings about his behaviour.
Dame Janet Smith found that an "atmosphere of fear" and a "deeply deferential" culture meant that senior managers were not told of complaints about Savile.
Responding to Rev Welby, a spokesman for the BBC said: "This isn't a characterisation we recognise. When the Savile allegations became known we established an independent investigation by a High Court judge.
"In the interests of transparency, this was published in full. We apologised and accepted all the recommendations. And while today's BBC is a different place, we set out very clear actions to ensure the highest possible standards of child safeguarding."
A spokeswoman for Lambeth Palace said: "We fully accept the failures of the Church of England in the area of safeguarding.
"Since the Archbishop took up his role, he has been very clear that the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults should be the highest priority of all parts of the Church and was one of the first to call for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
"The Archbishop believes this level of rigorous response and self-examination needs to extend to all institutions, including the BBC."