Director general Tony Hall said BBC journalists "acted appropriately" in their coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's flat following sexual assault allegations.
The raid on the pop star's penthouse caused controversy when the corporation broke news of the search, with a film crew reportedly arriving on the scene before the police.
In a letter to Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) chairman Keith Vaz MP, Mr Hall said: "I believe that BBC journalists have acted appropriately in pursuing this story. As you rightly say, the media has a right to report on matters of public interest.
"Sir Cliff Richard is one of the most successful British entertainers of all time and has been a prominent public figure for several decades. Investigations into historic sex abuse cases have - and will continue to have - a profound impact on the lives of well-known individuals and the standing of public institutions.
"The disclosure of a sex abuse allegation against Sir Cliff Richard and the police search of his property was clearly a significant story and the BBC was not alone in providing extensive coverage."
The singer's apartment was searched by officers from South Yorkshire and Thames Valley police last week as part of an investigation into an alleged sexual assault on a young boy at a religious event in 1985.
Sir Cliff, who was in Portugal when the search took place, has firmly denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Hall and the chief constable of South Yorkshire Police David Crompton will face a grilling by the committee over the affair when Parliament returns from recess and the force's police and crime commissioner has launched an independent review of what happened.
In his letter, Mr Hall said protecting sources was "a key principle for all journalism" and "for that reason the BBC will not be providing details about the source".
He added: "I fully understand that a core part of the work of your committee is to scrutinise the work of the police, but I am sure you also appreciate that the BBC's editorial independence, as guaranteed by the BBC Charter, is something we take very seriously and is highly valued by the British public; as such it would not be appropriate to elaborate on detail of our editorial processes."
Mr Hall said a complaint by South Yorkshire Police about an article on the BBC News website would be dealt with separately by the corporation's director of news and current affairs James Harding.
Sir Cliff's fans have rallied round the veteran star since the allegation became public and are showing their support by buying copies of his 1992 Number Seven hit I Still Believe in You with the song headed for this weekend's Top 40.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article