BBC Exec Resigns Over 'Crowngate'

Probe finds that doc distorted footage of her highness
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 6, 2007 7:29 PM CDT
BBC Exec Resigns Over 'Crowngate'
Video grabbed image taken from BBC One's A Year with the Queen programme of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walking in Buckingham Palace in London issued on Friday Oct. 5, 2007. The head of the British Broadcasting Corp.'s main television channel Peter Fincham resigned Friday over the editing of footage...   (Associated Press)

A BBC chief resigned yesterday over footage of the Queen allegedly storming out of a photo session, the Los Angeles Times reports. A probe found that she never stalked out; another clip of her was spliced into the BBC doc. An ex-exec who led the "Crowngate" probe said the snafu was sparked by “misjudgments, poor practice and ineffective systems."

"Crowngate" is the latest woe for BBC, which recently punished 25 workers over fake call-in shows and other scandals. A misnamed kitty drew the most ire, when staff dubbed it "Socks" despite a call-in poll that picked "Cookie." One expert calls the network’s actions “peculiar” because it’s “cleaning house when there's no great public demand that they do so." (More Queen Elizabeth stories.)

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