BBC crisis: Wronged politician reaches settlement

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Reuters fileIn this file photo, Lord McAlpine, left, former treasurer of the Conservative Party and actor Edward Fox pose for photographers, while launching a poster campaign for the Referendum Party in Brighton, on Oct. 18, 1996.By NBC News staff and wire reportsUpdated 6:05 p.m. ET: The BBC has agreed to pay 185,000 pounds ($295,000) to a former senior UK politician wrongly accused of child intercourse abuse as  a result of one of its reports.

Lord Alistair McAlpine, an ally of former Prime Minister  Margaret Thatcher, was widely named on the internet as being the unidentified  senior politician accused in a report by the BBC's flagship Newsnight program of  abusing boys in social care.

The BBC has already apologized for linking McAlpine, a member of the House of Lords, to child intercourse abuse that happened decades ago in Wales. The mistaken report, broadcast nearly two weeks ago, has caused turmoil within BBC management ranks and led to the resignation of its chief.

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