Universally challenged BBC

Jeremy Paxman: And now Corpus Delicti, your starter for ten. How many major PR cock-ups have there been at the BBC in the past two years? Gail Trimble: Five. Paxman: Correct. Name 3 of them. Trimble: Er, the Blue Peter Cat, Carol Thatcher's Golliwog and the Gaza Emergency Disaster Fund appeal. Paxman: Correct. I'll give you a bonus of 30 if you can name another 3. Yes, 3 - Wake up Corpus. Trimble: Oh, er, I see what you mean. The Queen being backward in coming forward, Jonathan Ross'  reinstatement after the Sachsgate affair and now us not winning University Challenge. 

Paxman: At last. You're getting the hang of it. What's the common thread running through them? Sam Kaye: the BBC is either too fast or too slow at responding to crises. Paxman: No, too vague. I can't allow that I'm afraid; Manchester? Matthew Yeo: It's incompetent or it's corrupt. Paxman: Make up your mind. Yeo: Well, it's both. Blue Peter was corruption and... Paxman: You're missing the point. Corpus?

Trimble: It lacks common sense. Paxman: Can you be a bit more specific? Trimble: Well, it's all the responsibility of the director-general, really. He's been so frightened by the repercussions of the Hutton report, which resulted in the sacking of one of his predecessors, that he's been paralysed by political correctness. Paxman: Sorry Corpus, I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say there. He's desperate to be seen as right-thinking, but most people think he keeps getting it wrong? Trimble: Exactly. But he's much cleverer than people give him credit for, because underneath all the fumbling PC hypocrisy, he's adroitly pursuing a populist, commercially motivated strategy that's diametrically opposed to the BBC's Reithian foundation principles of...

Paxman: Mm, fascinating. I'll have to stop you there, Corpus. We've run out of time and so have you.