BBC's top woman faces growing pressure to quit over 'Crowngate'

The most powerful woman at the BBC was clinging to her job last night after she was criticised over the "Crowngate" scandal.

Jana Bennett is under growing pressure to quit following the resignation of BBC1 controller Peter Fincham over doctored documentary footage of the Queen.

An independent inquiry found that a misunderstanding with Mr Fincham left her thinking the problem centred solely on how the footage had been presented at a press launch.

Mr Fincham's allies suggested he was being made a scapegoat and that other senior executives should also carry the can.

Miss Bennett, 50, oversees all BBC content as director of BBC Vision - a job seen as next in importance to that of director general.

The Wyatt Report into the controversy found that Miss Bennett, who earns nearly £450,000 a year, was "lacking in curiosity" when problems emerged.

She was also found not to have read an email version of an apology agreed with Buckingham Palace, the night before it was released.

The report said: "The channel controller did brief his director and then sent her an email copy of the statement but there was a misunderstanding between them about what the problem actually was.

"The director believes the controller acted responsibly in ringing and emailing her, nevertheless she was left thinking the issue was the way the controller introduced the clip at the press launch.

"Certainly she was unaware that DVDs of the footage had been distributed and as she did not realise that the agreed statement had been emailed to her that evening, she did not read it."

According to reports, Mr Fincham was called before director general Mark Thompson on Wednesday night before having had a chance to read the inquiry report. It is alleged that he was told his position was untenable and he should go.

The BBC refused to comment on the claims but maintains that Mr Fincham resigned on Friday of his own accord. The corporation pointed to the fact it had published Mr Fincham's resignation letter and Mr Thompson's response as evidence it had not forced him to go.

Mr Fincham had wrongly claimed at a press launch that the documentary in question, A Year with the Queen, would show the monarch storming out of a tetchy photoshoot. In fact the footage was of the Queen arriving at the shoot.

Mr Fincham left after it emerged that he had allowed the media, including BBC news outlets, to mis-report the resulting story.

The BBC had a serious falling-out with Buckingham Palace over the mix-up.

Mr Fincham's allies claimed that it had been easier for the BBC to get rid of him than Miss Bennett, not least because he was a newcomer at the corporation.

A source, who claimed the BBC was in institutional meltdown over row, said: "He doesn't feel like it was a fair cop. She is BBC, Peter wasn't."

There are also claims that some members of the BBC Trust, which replaced the BBC Board of Governors in January, believed Mr Fincham should not have had to resign.

One insider said the investigation team had considered Mr Fincham to have been "straight" with them.

Another senior BBC insider claimed: "My understanding is that it was impossible to come down on one side or the other."

There were also claims that some opponents of Mr Fincham, who ruffled feathers when he took the job having come from an exclusively commercial background, had been briefing against him.

Some senior BBC News figures said Miss Bennett, who, unlike Mr Fincham, has a journalistic background, should have spotted the significance of a potential row over the footage.

Miss Bennett, who had been tipped as the BBC's first female director general, was already under pressure over the faking of BBC competition winners.