If you’re wondering why it doesn’t work Steve Hewlett’s piece in The Guardian offers an interesting insight into accountability at the BBC. The discussion is about the proposals for top-slicing the license fee, but the point is more widely applicable: Senior Ofcom executives have privately expressed surprise at the lack of obvious separation between the BBC Trust and the BBC management on these questions… The Trust, meanwhile, continues to maintain … Continue reading →

In case you missed them… Guido has an amusing piece up on a surprising episode of Spooks. Shockingly, it goes some way towards reflecting reality – not a fundamentalist Christian terrorist or Mossad conspiracy in sight. As he says, it’s all a terrible disappointment: This is the BBC, we expect to be force fed left-wing platitudes and propaganda, not given a patriotic tear jerker. Don’t get too excited, though. At … Continue reading →

Setting the record straight The BBC Editor’s blog is flagging up a Radio 4 Feedback piece on its blogs that helps clarify their status. It’s only five minutes long, but the key segment has this from presenter Louise Adamson: Some would say the whole point of a blog is that it should be controversial, outspoken, off the cuff and frequently partisan. So how does that fit with the principles of … Continue reading →

Good for a laugh James Forsyth has a short post at the Spectator’s Coffee House on the Beeb’s odd decision to keep its business editor Robert Peston off Have I Got News For You. The killer paragraph, though, relates to Peston’s reports last week on Osborne: What makes this decision all the more absurd is that the BBC is happy for Peston to report on George Osborne and the Deripaska … Continue reading →