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"The BBC has strongly denied newspaper claims that it shelved a Newsnight report into allegations that Sir Jimmy Savile sexually abused girls at Television Centre over fears that it would damage the corporation&amp;#039;s reputation. Newsnight editor Peter Rippon told Digital Spy that the claims, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail today, are &amp;quot;absolutely untrue&amp;quot;.  He said that the investigation was dropped for &amp;quot;editorial reasons&amp;quot;, and described the suggestion that the BBC may have withheld evidence from police as &amp;quot;malicious&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;damaging&amp;quot;. Newsnight had run an investigation into allegations that Sir Jimmy, one of the BBC&amp;#039;s most colourful characters, may have sexually abused teenage girls in his dressing room at the BBC&amp;#039;s west London base. The programme had tracked down several women who claimed that Savile, who passed away last October, used his position on the Clunk Click family show in the 1970s to groom young girls. According to the newspaper reports, Newsnight dropped its plans to run the report last December following the death of Savile two months earlier. It was claimed that BBC management expressed concern that the report would clash with two planned tribute programmes to Savile&amp;#039;s lengthy career at the corporation.  The reports also suggested that the BBC may have covered up the allegations, which were published in The Oldie magazine, to save its own reputation.   An alleged BBC News source was quoted as saying: &amp;quot;The extreme nature of the claims about Savile meant that the Newsnight report was going to seriously compromise the lavish BBC tributes scheduled to run later the same month. &amp;quot;And second, the allegations directly involved the BBC, in that the woman who gave the interview said that she and others were abused by Savile on BBC premises.&amp;quot; However, Newsnight editor Peter Rippon has said that the report was dropped from the programme because it could not be &amp;quot;substantiated&amp;quot;.  &amp;quot;It is absolutely untrue that the Newsnight investigation was dropped for anything other than editorial reasons,&amp;quot; said Rippon.  &amp;quot;We have been very clear from the start that the piece was not broadcast because the story we were pursuing could not be substantiated. To say otherwise is false and very damaging to the BBC and individuals. &amp;quot;To allege that we are withholding evidence from the police is also damaging and false. The notion that internal pressure was applied appears to be a malicious rumour.&amp;quot; A BBC spokesperson added: &amp;quot;Any suggestion that a story was dropped for anything other than editorial reasons is completely untrue.  &amp;quot;The BBC gathers information on hundreds of stories and not all make it to air. In this case the angle we were pursuing could not be substantiated.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a365040/bbc-denies-burying-jimmy-savile-newsnight-sexual-abuse-report/>