I wonder whether Dr Samir Shah recalls the events of 2007. On January 1st he joined the BBC Executive Board as one of four non-executive directors. Mark Thompson was Director General; Tim Davie was Director of Marketing, Communications and Audiences, and Mark Byford was DDG and Keeper of the Candle of Journalism.
In July that year, a launch trail for a indie documentary on the Queen placed clips in the wrong order, creating an impression that Her Maj had been unhappy with a shoot by photographer Annie Liebovitz. Will Wyatt was brought back to the BBC for an inquiry. Samir Shah was part of his inquiry team. It reported in October that year, and Mark Thompson invited Peter Fincham, Controller of BBC1, to 'resign'. Six years later it was revealed that Mr Fincham had agreed to a consensual termination, and left with a £500k pay-off. Director of Vision Jana Bennett was criticised in the report for a 'lack of curiosity' about unfolding events.
Wyatt found that the BBC signing off procedures for the launch tape did not include it being checked by anyone working on the series; no-one in the channel team spotted the news potential of what the tape appeared to show; and the BBC devolved too much of the relationship with Buckingham Palace to the independent producer.
The morning after the launch event, BBC News was carrying stories about this apparent 'flouncing out' , whilst, as Wyatt said it was "a story that two or three senior BBC staff had known since the previous evening was wrong. It took too long to for anyone to
address this and to ask, “How did this happen in the first place?”
Wyatt's principle recommendation: Nominated executive producers for the BBC should be accorded a greater sense of ownership of independent commissions. This person must be recognised as the formal and unavoidable link between the BBC and the production. In addition to the existing responsibility for programme editorial compliance this person should be informed of all publicity and marketing activity for the programme including launches and sign off all press and publicity materials for factual accuracy and fairness of representation.
Yes, but that doesn't go far enough. Of COURSE there should be an Exec Prod with those responsibilities, but that merely provides the BBC with the name of the 'assistant head' that must roll when things go badly wrong. On big-ticket items like the recent Gaza documentary, the responsibility for oversight must move further up the chain towards the top News table, including the CEO herself, otherwise what tf do all those highly-paid people DO?
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