Rona Fairhead looks set to be the new BBC Trust Chair and the Evening Standard has rounded up some advice for her from BBC veterans.
Westminster’s North House was filled to the rafters last night with great and grey-haired BBC grandees — from Melvyn Bragg to Terry Wogan — toasting former Beeb chairman Sir Christopher Bland’s debut novel, Irish historical drama Ashes in the Wind.
So did Bland — with his hard-won knowledge of the Beeb’s labyrinthine inner workings — have any survival tips for the chair-elect? “She should cancel her subscription to a press-cuttings agency and grow a second skin,” Bland quipped drily. (Press cuttings today have her being sued in an HSBC money- laundering law suit — Fairhead is a non-executive director of the bank.)
A moment later, who should we bump into but Greg Dyke, the BBC’s rambunctious former D-G, who was appointed to the post by none other than Bland before being forced out in 2004. Any advice for the newbie? “They need to sort out the governance. It’s a shambles,” said Dyke, ruefully.
“Also, she needs to watch her back. It’s a place where everyone stabs you.”
It’s a fair amount of money to tempt mortal folk, but she’s already pointed out it’s peanuts to a woman of her calibre and means, so a higher calling then.
Quite the commitment, as the forces ranged without are, as advised, more than matched within the sack of rats.
She needs wishing well. And perhaps reminding who she is there to serve, as BBC reporting staff remain unclear.
http://bbcwatch.org/2014/09/11/interesting-insight-into-how-the-job-of-trust-chair-is-seen-by-bbc-staff/
It seems historical practice has trumped idealistic theory so much they have forgotten what is in The Charter. Again.
Interesting how the BBC so quickly points to such as its self-penned Editorial Guidelines when they suit BBC purposes of weaselling out of something they have been nailed on, but can too often get very fast and loose with The Charter.
Shame the current highest authority to hold them to account on abuses of this are… The Trust.
We need someone to expose the obvious nepotism that seems to grow every year at the BBC
“They need to sort out the governance. It’s a shambles,”
That might be a short easy quip, but its implications are enormous!
The governance is the whole of the administration, all of the processes of decision making, communication, and translation of that into action.
Basically it means that the BBC trust is so poorly managed that it’s unable to function properly, let alone efficiently.
The useless Chris Patten has to take responsibility for this. It’s no surprise to me that he jumped ship when the going got tough and select committees were calling him before them – and he refused ! His performance when he did deign to turn up was weak at best.
This is the problem with the jobs for the boys, chummy nature of the Tories. Patten soundly rejected at the election is not held to account, but instead given a really cushy job as governor of Hong Kong, and then governor of the BBC trust. We now know for certain if we could only suspect before, that he simply wasn’t up to the job.
Rona Fairhead lives in Kensington & Knightsbridge, her husband is a Conservative Councillor, the couple are well connected to some pretty influential and powerful people. She’s obviously a very capable and competent woman, and we can only hope that some of this is brought to bear if and when she takes up the post.
She has to be better than Chris Patten, because it’s difficult to imagine anyone worse.
The BBC is not a shambles. It is a deliberate policy to mis-inform and propagandise to ncreasingly undermine English insitutions and English patriotism. This plan is not the work of one man (Chis Patten or Lord Hall) it has determinism at its core going back before even Greg Dyke to Lord Birt (who had some reason to be there back in the 1980’s). Of course the BBC journos are left wing adherants but those that shake the tree are also poliitcalyl correct public sevice junkies well aware of the powers of persuasion. It takes a lot of money to make Socialist and Liberals work together.
Let’s see how she applies herself to the BBC’s commitment to impartiality.
Still, plenty of room for manoeuvre….
‘The Agreement accompanying the BBC Charter requires us to do all we can to ensure controversial subjects are treated with due impartiality in our news and other output dealing with matters of public policy or political or industrial controversy. But we go further than that, applying due impartiality to all subjects. However, its requirements will vary.
The term ‘due’ means that the impartiality must be adequate and appropriate to the output, taking account of the subject and nature of the content, the likely audience expectation and any signposting that may influence that expectation.
Due impartiality is often more than a simple matter of ‘balance’ between opposing viewpoints. Equally, it does not require absolute neutrality on every issue or detachment from fundamental democratic principles.
The BBC Agreement forbids our output from expressing the opinion of the BBC on current affairs or matters of public policy, other than broadcasting or the provision of online services.
The external activities of staff, presenters and others who contribute to our output can also affect the BBC’s reputation for impartiality. ‘
So we’re scrupulously impartial except in cases where we judge it unnecessary. And that’ll be our judgement, not yours, so eff off with your complaints.
More get out clauses than a Prem League footballer’s contract.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-impartiality-introduction