New York Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. on Thursday defended his decision to hire former BBC Director General Mark Thompson to be the company’s next chief executive officer despite the BBC’s sexual-abuse scandal. Sulzberger told Wall Street analysts he was “satisfied” that Thompson “played no role” in the decision to kill a BBC report about how the late television host Jimmy Savile had engaged in a pattern of sexual abuse of more than 300 children.
Thompson “provided a detailed account” of the matter now before Britain’s Parliament, and Sulzberger said he”possesses high ethical standards” and “is the ideal person to lead our company as we focus on growing our business through digital and global expansion.”
The Wall Street Journal story about Sulzberger‘s call with analysts led with the sexual abuse angle. The New York Times story relegated it to the 19th and 20th paragraphs of a 23-paragraph story.