BBC News

The BBC is to remove gagging clauses from its contracts in the wake of the Savile scandal to make it easier for staff to speak out about any claims of harassment.

A major report into sexism and bullying at the corporation has found that some staff are scared of making complaints about inappropriate behaviour.

But the 80-page report by barrister Dinah Rose said that although sexual harassment was found to be "very rare", there was some evidence of inappropriate behaviour and bullying.

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Former Times editor James Harding has been appointed head of BBC News, replacing Helen Boaden who was in charge when the Jimmy Savile scandal erupted.

The journalist, who edited the paper for five years before leaving last year, starts in the £340,000-a-year role in August.

"James has a very impressive track record as a journalist, editor and leader," BBC director-general Tony Hall said.

"High quality journalism is at the heart of our organisation. I believe James will give News a renewed sense of purpose as it moves on from what has been an undeniably difficult chapter."

When Harding stepped down from his position at The Times in December 2012, he indicated the decision had been forced on him by publishers News International in his resignation speech.

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Labour's former culture secretary Ben Bradshaw, who is an ex-BBC journalist, said the corporation should publish any evidence it has that it obtained permission from students.

With students, or some of the students, challenging the BBC's account, the BBC must now publish all of the emails and written evidence that it has to support its conjecture that there was full consent.

We know again from recent experience that when the BBC is in the middle of a controversy like this it needs to act quickly - just tell the truth, get the information out there and then people can make their own minds up.

Mr Bradshaw, who sits on the Commons culture committee, added that programme makers should have gone "even further" than usual to get permission and said he was "amazed" they did not secure written consent.

He told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme: "Central to the BBC's editorial guidelines is the principle of informed consent."

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The BBC has been saying that they fully explained the risks to the students and that any risks that there could have been were justified.

Some of the students that went on the trip have via the student paper, Facebook and through friends been saying that they did not think they were fully informed of the risks.

One student said: "I was never told there would be a documentary that would implicate me before we landed in North Korea."

They believed that BBC Panorama reporter John Sweeney was a history professor at another university until halfway through the trip.

This has gone right to the top of the BBC, with the new director-general Tony Hall making the decision that the Panorama programme should go ahead despite what the London School of Economics want.

He is in front of MPs next week and we know that they want to question Mr Hall about this incident and some are saying that there are some problems for the BBC in what has happened over this.

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The decision to go ahead with the controversial BBC documentary about North Korea went "right to the top", the corporation's head of news programming said.

Ceri Thomas denied that the briefing of the students had been "shambolic" and rejected claims that students had been forced to run unacceptable risks during undercover filming of the investigation.

He said: "We think the risks as we explained them to the students were justified.

"But I need to be absolutely clear that if we had any suggestion that lives were at risk or anything approaching that - either the BBC team's lives or the lives of the students - then we wouldn't have gone anywhere near this."

Asked whether the then-acting director general Tim Davie had signed off on the plans, Mr Thomas replied: "I can't be sure that Tim Davie did. I know that Tony Hall (the current director general) has been involved in recent days."

Read: BBC denies claim that students were put at risk

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The BBC has been accused of putting a group of students in danger over an undercover documentary about North Korea.

A Panorama reporter used a study trip from the London School of Economics as cover for secret filming inside the country.

The BBC claimed the students involved were fully briefed, but the university says it was kept in the dark about the deception.

ITV News reporter Martha Fairlie reports:

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The Thatcher-supporters' answer to the 'Ding Dong' song failed to get anywhere close to the controversial anthem, reaching Number 35 in the singles chart with sales of 8,768.

The Notsensibles’ 1979 single, 'I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher', made its Top 40 debut some 34 years after it was first released.

It was adopted in the wake of the 'Ding Dong' uproar by supporters of the late Prime Minister.

Read: MPs join 'Grantham Style' campaign for pro-Thatcher hit

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Despite a vigorous online campaign and the furore in the media, 'Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead' finished this week's charts over 5,700 copies behind Duke Dumont.

The single, which has climbing quickly up the charts since entering at Number 54 on Tuesday, has sold a total of 52,605 copies to date.

Listen: BBC opts out of playing 'Ding Dong' song in chart show

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The BBC has opted not to play the 'Ding Dong' song in full after many people objected to it on the grounds of taste and decency.

Instead, the official chart show on BBC Radio 1 played a short news report that included five seconds of the song.

Listen to an excerpt of the programme below:

Read: BBC Radio 1 controller explains Ding Dong decision

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