‘Crowngate’ is BBC’s latest scandal

london -- The queen was already dressed to the nines in full robe and regalia when photographer Annie Leibovitz suggested that the crown was a bit much. Did she flounce out of the room in a huff, saying, “I’m not changing anything. . . . I’ve had enough,” as the promotional trailer of a BBC documentary implied?

No. The video of Queen Elizabeth II grumbling and striding purposefully, an aide grappling with her long train, was taken as she made her way into the photo session. The delay in acknowledging the distortion, a scandal that’s been called “Crowngate,” resulted Friday in the resignation of the head of BBC1, the network’s premier entertainment channel.

Controller Peter Fincham announced that he was leaving the network shortly after an internal investigation found that BBC1 managers knew about the switch-up by an independent production company the night before the story of the queen’s “walkout” exploded in the media, but didn’t correct the misrepresentation until the next day.

The report by former BBC executive Will Wyatt found the snafu to be a result of “misjudgments, poor practice and ineffective systems,” not in the documentary itself but surrounding a film clip played to journalists -- and thence heard ‘round the world.

“Serious mistakes were made, which put misleading information about the queen into the public domain,” BBC Director- General Mark Thompson said. “That is why we are determined to take all necessary steps to address the shortcomings set out in this report.”

“Crowngate” is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the BBC this year, most of which involved faked call-in shows.

Together, they have battered the reputation of the BBC, one of the most revered international broadcasting organizations and one of the most powerful institutions in Britain.

Alternately praised as a model of probity and objectivity in its news-gathering and criticized, usually abroad, as a mouthpiece for the British government, the BBC was shaken by a crisis in 2003, when doubts were raised about a news story that the government had “sexed up” a report to make a more convincing case for war in Iraq.

The alleged confidential source for the report, weapons expert David Kelly, committed suicide after acknowledging that he had talked to the BBC journalist but insisting that he couldn’t have been the source of the information.

A subsequent investigation found the news report to be unfounded, and the reporter and BBC’s director-general lost their jobs over the affair, though polls have shown that many Britons continue to believe the original report.

Over the last few months, there have been half a dozen reports of relatively innocuous fakeries in online and phone-in votes by viewers in various competitions and charity appeals, sometimes because there weren’t enough participants. The scandals have involved BBC and another British television network, ITV.

One of the biggest dust-ups was over a long-haired cat named Socks, one of the mascots of the BBC’s flagship children’s show, “Blue Peter.” In fact, it was revealed, the real winner in the show’s online poll looking for a name for the cat was “Cookie,” but the staff felt that “Socks,” the runner-up name, was a better fit.

That cost “Blue Peter” editor Richard Marson his job, and a new kitten was quickly acquired to take on the name of “Cookie.” The show’s website now features a virtual rogue’s gallery of cats and names and explanations.

At least 25 BBC employees have been disciplined as a result of investigations.

“It’s very peculiar, I have to say. The BBC is cleaning house when there’s no great public demand, except from media rivals, that they do so. But I suppose that reflects well on them in the sense that they wish to appear squeaky clean,” said Roy Greenslade, professor of journalism at London’s City University.

The controversy over the queen erupted from a photo session for the moody, atmospheric portraits of the monarch being shot by celebrity photographer Leibovitz before Elizabeth’s U.S. visit in May.

An independent production company, RDF Media, filmed the session for a multipart documentary on the queen, scheduled to air on BBC1 this year. RDF employees edited a media trailer for the series to make it appear as though the queen had stormed out of the session when asked to remove her crown.

Fincham, according to the report, was unaware of the misrepresentation when he drew attention to the scene during the media launch in July, calling it a “very memorable little sequence.”

The internal review found that RDF executives realized the error later that night and flagged it to the BBC, but a decision was made not to correct the misimpression until the next day -- when it had been splashed all over the news, including on the BBC.

“A vital relationship -- that between the BBC and the royal household -- had been, at the very least, placed under strain, and the reputation of the BBC, already having sustained recent damage over the issue of trust, was further tarnished,” the report says.

The BBC apologized to the queen.

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kim.murphy@latimes.com