Political analyst: "Series of scandals hurting BBC credibility."

Tony Hall is appointed as BBC director general to return the corporation's reputation and restore public confidence after a number of crises, including the sex-abuse claims and mishandled news reports, that have hurt BBC credibility with viewers.

“BBC has had a number of crises, as we know Jimmy Savile affair and other things that have really hurt its credibility with viewers. So BBC itself is scrambling to try to maintain its integrity and maintain itself,” said Danny Schechter, editor of mediachannel.org.
Schechter believes that BBC is going through a big restructuring that forced to shut down the BBC Centre which was its center piece and had to sell it off. BBC went through incredible loss of revenue and income partly because of the transition to digital journalism.

Anthony William Hall, 62, was born in 1951 in Birkenhead, Wirral, England in 1951. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. In 1973 Hall joined the BBC as a trainee. During his 28 year career at the corporation oversaw the launch of Radio 5 live, BBC News 24, the BBC News website and BBC Parliament. In 1999 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the position of Director General of the BBC.

Tony Hall became Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House in April 2001. He introduced special low-price ticket schemes and purchased a DVD company, Opus Arte, to distribute recordings globally.

In 2010 he became a crossbench member of the House of Lords.

Hall returned to the BBC in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal which led to the resignation of his predecessor, George Entwistle.

The Savile scandal last autumn led to a crisis in the BBC's leadership and journalism.

One of the Hall’s tasks as the director general is to tackle a dispute over cuts which unions claim has led to compulsory redundancies, unacceptable workloads and bullying.