Mark Thompson was "wilfully ignorant" about Savile abuse Mr Thompson, who is due to take over as chief executive of the New York Times next month, faces questions about his suitability for the role after what had "plainly" been an institutional cover-up on his watch. Joe Nocera, who has been a columnist at the New York Times since 2005 and was previously an executive editor at Forbes, said in the article: "Given the seriousness of sexual abuse allegations... you would think that Thompson and his underlings would immediately want to get to the bottom of it. But again, they did nothing. Thompson winds up appearing wilfully ignorant, and it makes you wonder what kind of an organization the BBC was when Mr Thompson was running it - and what kind of leader he was. It also makes you wonder what kind of a chief executive he'd be at The Times. For the sake of Times employees - not to mention readers who want to see a vibrant New York Times Company - let's hope his [Arthur Sulzberger Jr's, the company's chairman] faith in Thompson is warranted. Otherwise the BBC won't be the only organization being asked tough questions about his judgement. Last week Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times's public editor, questioned Mr Thompson's claim that he was not formally notified about the Newsnight investigation.