Channel 4 has declined to reveal when – or if – its investigation into former BBC director general Mark Thompson will be broadcast.
It was reported yesterday that Thompson became embroiled in an argument with a Channel 4 News crew on his doorstep in New York last month.
Channel 4 News said it could not comment on the investigation and refused to confirm when, or if, it would be broadcast. A spokesperson also declined to say who was working on the investigation.
It comes less than a month before Thompson, a former Channel 4 chief executive, is due to appear before a select committee in Parliament.
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According to the New York Post, the ITN team was working on a fresh Savile expose.
The paper reports a source as saying: “I saw a cameraman and a reporter speaking to Thompson outside his apartment before rush hour…
“He was tense and angry and was talking very loudly. They followed him around the corner and he lost his temper and shouted at them. It really caused a scene.”
Thompson is to appear before the Public Accounts Committee on 9 September.
Among other issues, the New York Times president and chief executive is likely to be quizzed further on what he knew about Newsnight’s investigation into Savile – which was suppressed by BBC management in December 2011.
An independent review by Nick Pollard, former head of Sky News, accepted that Thompson had not heard any of the allegations made against Savile.
However, former BBC director of news Helen Boaden has since claimed she told Thompson about the contents of the investigation in December 2011 – nine months before he departed the corporation for New York.
Channel 4 News said it did not discuss its investigations. However, an ITN insider told Press Gazette that the investigation had caused "a few ripples".
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