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Crisis management Sector experts consider the lessons in the disgrace of the late broadcaster
On 3 October, ITV broadcast a documentary which shattered the reputation of the late media personality Jimmy Savile. It reported distressing accusations that he was a serial sex offender who preyed on children.
The ensuing tide of allegations threatened to engulf the two charities which bore his name and, 20 days later, the trustees decided to close them for good.
The charities' combined assets of more than £5m will be given to a new or existing charity or charities with similar objects, and, because these are unlikely to be named, people will no longer be able to link those funds with Savile.
A scandal of this proportion is every charity leader's nightmare, so did the trustees of Savile's charities get it right, and what should others do in a comparable situation?
The trustees of die Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust and the Jimmy Savile Stoke Mandeville Hospital Trust, who decline to discuss why they acted as they did, were immediately plunged into a reputational crisis when the documentary was broadcast.
"From the outset, there were significant challenges because Jimmy Savile was integral to their brand and the trustees had to decide if the accusations were factual or not," says George Ames, a director at Forster Communications."The situation was complicated because the allegations...