Influencer

New papers from the National Archive show how, in April 2003 Lord [John] Birt, then advising Tony Blair at No 10, backed Peter Mandelson for a new gig. 

“I gather from Peter [Mandelson] that you still talk to him regularly but, as a safeguard, you may like to know what he reports to me about his current state of mind. He feels this spring/summer may be the moment of decision for him. He’s approaching 50 – and he is sorely conscious that time is passing and he has yet to fulfil his promise.

“As you know, Peter’s deepest wish is to return to government. He stresses that he has already proved to be a capable minister, and that he would be a strong ally for you in cabinet.

“If you judge a return to government is not possible, then he would like you to consider appointing him as EC Commissioner. One way or another, he says he wants to settle his future this year, even if it means a career outside politics.”

Just four months later, it was announced that Mandelson was to be the UK’s next European commissioner.

"Pivotal new role"

Here's the ad that gets you straight onto Deborah Turness' News Board; the job title is Director, News Documentaries and Long Form Journalism"

"The role will deliver the digital transformation of the BBC’s Current Affairs offering across all platforms including BBC iPlayer - the UK’s fastest growing streamer. It offers a rare opportunity to lead the BBC’s most groundbreaking and impactful storytelling. You will bring a forward-thinking vision, ensuring our journalism remains essential, innovative and connects with where audiences are going, not just where they’ve been.

"The role is being introduced as part of the BBC News Action Plan in response to the recent Peter Johnston Review into the BBC documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone. The Director will have the mandate to review the BBC structures and processes to ensure we continue to produce powerful public interest current affairs journalism, while also upholding robust editorial compliance and fully implementing the findings of the Review."

Got the t-shirt ?

It's not all Bluey. BBC Studios are still licensing other products: here a reader submits a photo of a shop in Seoul. 

The partnership, with Cowell Fashion, was set up two years ago, and produces t-shirts, shorts, hoodies etc 

"Designed with sustainability at its core, the collection uses materials and manufacturing processes that have been environmentally considered and are certified with the Global Recycled Standard label."

A visit to the online shop, bbcearthapparel.com, suggests most of the t-shirts have gone, but shorts are still available. 

Outside South Korea, BBC Earth has partnered with Reemill and Rapanui, an idea from the Isle of Wight, about t-shirts being used to make t-shirts....

Summer

The mood music around BBC DG Tim Davie remains ominous; "Last strike", "Save Davie", "toxic blame game" were phrases from the weekend newspapers.  

There are loose ends which will make Tim's chances of a quiet summer tricky. How many of the executives who have been 'stepped back' after the Bob Vylan performance at Glastonbury will be 'stepped forward' again ?  Will the 2025 series of Masterchef get a broadcast in 2025 ?  Can BBC News find a credible new consigliere to keep Current Affairs clean ?  And will the industry rally round Tim at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention in September ? 

It's the first time the BBC have 'chaired' the Convention in ten years; it also marks five years of Davie as DG; and it costs £2,000 a delegate. They'll back him.... 

Where the world meets America

The Global Story was a podcast launched at the end of November 2023 - a collaboration between World Service and BBC Studios, and with enough funds to bring Katya Adler to the microphone each weekday. Moving through 2024, we've have a lot of Jonny Dymond, some Lucy Hockings, and quite a bit of the new BBC Washington team of Catriona Perry and Sumi Somaskanda as presenters.

In March, the supply of Global Stories dried up entirely, and there were ads for two new presenters. The successful applicants were former NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid, 41 (BA Journalism and Politics, Indiana University, M Phil Cambridge) and former Al Jazeera reporter Tristan Redman, 44 (MA History Edinburgh, Postgrad History University of Grenoble Alpes).  Tristan's further appeal to his new employers maybe his production of Ghost Story, a murder-suicide true life podcast series that topped the charts last year. 

Also joining the team will be executive editor Annie Brown, former senior producer for the New York Times’ podcast “The Daily”, who worked with Redman on Ghost Story. She'll be based in New York. 

The BBC is explicit about the skewed nature of this incarnation of The Global Story coming in September: "With one host in DC, one host in London, and the backing of the best international newsroom in the world, this podcast tells the intertwined story of America and the world – how each shapes the other, daily. The Global Story. Where the world meets America"

The current podcast successes of the BBC in the USA are lead by the Global News Podcast, a simple half-hour bulletin, built daily from the miniscule resources of the World Service team at desks in the newsroom of Broadcasting House; and the elderly WS current affairs war horse, Newshour,  produced in, er, the same building in London.  Will Asma and Tristan bring in the subscribers for this alternative ?

Casino

July 2025 looks like being a pivotal month for the current BBC management. The Great American News Gamble is officially underway. 

More and more users of bbc.com in the United States are being presented with this screen, as they attempt to follow interesting headlines. The process is called 'dynamic charging', a euphemism for the marketing team hunting down those they believe might be willing subscription victims. To make sure those US subscribers get what the marketing team think they want, BBC Studios now pays for at least 100 journalists based in the States, most of them US citizens. 

I was lucky enough to be working at Television Centre when the BBC News Online service emerged in 1997. In the nature of the web in those days, it was without international boundaries, and explicitly followed the World Service model, offering fair and accurate reporting, free of commercial or political contamination. 

Now only bits of the BBC are free to US users - radio stations that take World Service programming survive. And the news site internationally is peppered with inappropriate ads, clickbait headlines and tittle-tattle; today's offerings include "Kill Russians, win points: Is Ukraine's new drone scheme gamifying war?","How popping a pimple led to a man getting sepsis"; "Watch moment child gets stuck inside claw machine". 

Tim Davie, via marketing at Pepsico and Procter & Gamble, and leading BBC Studios, wanted to sell more 'product' in the States. "Dancing with the Stars", "Killing Eve" and the early deals for Dr Who hinted at a gold rush, now clearly easing to a trickle. What could possibly go wrong with 'selling' News in the States ? I believe it's already going wrong, and the marketing of news, under CEO Deborah Turness, distracts from the core purposes that made BBC News distinctive. 

In the US you can get ITV News, Channel 4 News and Sky News via the web; Reuters and others offer at least dispassionate text news services. The BBC risks losing large numbers of US users to free alternatives. Spin the wheel, Tim. 

Job creation

Some will be having a mild chuckle at the latest thoughts of former Beeboid Roger Mosey, in The Times, about restructuring the BBC.

"Davie [Tim, BBC DG] should also be taking a hard look at the leadership tiers below him and he may need to abandon his resistance to the recreation of a deputy director-general role to better manage the output and catch some of the flak. It is “fundamentally ridiculous”, a former senior colleague says, to expect one person to supervise all of the corporation’s creative and journalistic content."

The sign-off to the article notes: Roger Mosey is a former head of BBC News and BBC Sport. He will retire as master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, in September.  Roger is 67. 

Channels

The BBC News Channel had a monthly reach of 9.9m in June, up a tad from 9.6m in May, and down from 10.5m a year ago. 

Sky News was steady month on month at 8.3m, up from 7.1m in April, and 8.0m a year ago.

GB News nudged up to 3.75m from 3.7m in May, and compared with 3.1m a year ago. 

Ooops

BBC News' CEO Deborah Turness' 'detail' will enrage the UK's anti-BBC lobby in the Jewish community even further.  

Hardly a surprise the BBC is in such a mess over its Middle East coverage, when you see that this person, Deborah Turness, is in charge of @bbcnews
pic.twitter.com/8NVaD3CAai

— Jake (@fishcake555) July 17, 2025

Followed by a spectacularly inept blocking attempt by a BBC spokesman,  “Deborah Turness was answering a question about how we described the father of the narrator in our Warzone film. She did not imply that Hamas are not a single terrorist organisation.”  Oh yes she did. 

Pod picking

There's a new entrant in the field of podcast charts - mowpod. The current version for the UK is dominated by "The Rest Is..." variants.  The highest rated BBC entry is the Test Match Special podcast from Radio 5Live, at 21.  Newscast is at 30, and Rugby Union Weekly, again from 5Live at 34.