BBC's Diamond Jubilee coverage was hampered by weather, claims new director general One of the key things for the essence of the BBC to get its facts straight. But he added: "We were genuinely thrown out of our stride by the weather." Mr Entwistle, a former director of BBC Vision and ex-editor of Newsnight who took over from Mark Thompson as the BBC's top executive, told the Radio 4 Today programme that preparation was essential, and admitted the tone and balance of the coverage was wrong. He also said women presenters would be given the same opportunities as men, saying the organisation had worked hard on "getting more women to present our factual programmes" in the last few years. "The key is to find people who have the right things to say, have expertise and bring them in," he added. I know the BBC has to be better in this regard. But he said the solution was not "turfing out a whole load of blokes who might be doing their jobs brilliantly with a view to getting women in." Mr Entwistle said pay for top executives at the corporation was previously too high, but pointed out that his £450,000 salary was almost half that of his predecessor. Yesterday he unveiled his vision for "a more creative" corporation as he announced a slimmed-down management structure and the departure of one of his rivals for the top job, chief operations officer Caroline Thomson.