Manhunt

I suppose most newsrooms in the UK, except perhaps BBC Verify, are using OSINT to identify where Harry and Meghan are staying, from their latest Instagram post. Or perhaps it didn't occur to Harry, a Sandurst-trained Captain in the Army, that he might be giving away his position.... 

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News will eat itself

Next Friday's Newsnight has been allotted 7.00-7.28pm on BBC2.  Six UK channels will be offering 'news' at the same time - ITV, C4, BBC Scotland, BBC Alba and BBC2. Oh, and The World Today with Maryam Moshiri on BBC News.

The 10.30 slot it has vacated on BBC2 is straddled by The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes, part one of a two part documentary made by Sipur Studios, an Israeli production company. Sipur means story in Hebrew. 

Why now, Emma ?

Is there a link between Emma Barnett's 14 minute interview with Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch on Thursday morning, and the strong rumour that the interrogator is about the leave the Today programme after two years ?

The interview became unduly and unnecessarily unheated - a sort of prizefight and test of will when the immediate political climate demanded more of a canter round low obstacles. Waiting alongside Emma, her co-presenter Nick Robinson, with thirty years of experience as a political correspondent and interviewer, rather heavy handedly claimed he had the "Interview of the Day", with Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson.

Three weeks ago, Emma revealed that she'd been largely off-air since June, recuperating from a five-hour operation which included a hysterectomy and gall-bladder removal. She returned to the Today studio just in time to co-present with Amol Rajan for his last programme. She may, too, have decided that there are easier ways to earn £300k a year without requiring 4.30am alarm calls. 

Lisa's promises

"It's coming soon". Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to the BBC's Katie Razzall on proposals for future funding of the BBC; a firm footing, says Lisa, not just for the next ten years, but way into the future. Bullish Lisa also backed the idea of some kind of 'sovereign space' online, perhaps led by the BBC, but encompassing all kinds of UK 'trusted media', particularly regional and local. And hinted at a clampdown on politicians presenting news and current affairs programmes.  

I wonder if Labour will regret not setting up some form of independent commission on the future of broadcasting at this key pivot. Can it really be appropriate for it to emerge from behind-closed-door weekly meetings between BBC executives, junior ministers and civil servants alone ?

If the shoe fits

Poor old Monty, you thought. Must be whacked out after all those years of gardening.  But, today, we learn the change may be more about acquiring some extra cash. Here are some trainers.  Sorry, New Balance x Bleue Burnham collab trainers, £240 a pair. 

Playing with jobs ?

May I commend Barbara Speed's excellent long read in The Guardian on BBC Charter renewal ?

It's clear that the process is no closer to a funding solution, and woefully short of a Big Idea, or at least one that can be given some sort of flesh. 

More than a few terrifying paragraphs from Barbara: try this... 

Throughout the summer, 15 formal meetings have taken place between DCMS and BBC officials, with more to come through the rest of the year and into 2027. These meetings are private. No public record is released. It’s here that the real work of drafting the charter is done.

More worrying - the BBC lead on the case: 

Over email, the deputy director general, Rhodri Talfan Davies, told me he has found meetings with DCMS over the summer “very constructive … It’s clear to me they understand the importance of this moment for the BBC.”

And downright outrageous:

Senior figures at DCMS seem to believe that current rounds of job cuts – which will eventually amount to one in 10 of the BBC’s workforce – can be spun in the BBC’s favour. Lisa Nandy would not speak to me for this article, but Ian Murray, the DCMS junior minister working on charter renewal, told me he hoped the news of the cuts would show the public “the consequences of an inadequately funded BBC. It’s a really good way of the public realising that the BBC is something that they quite value.”

Doubling

I'm not sure who's advising Matt Brittin on pay negotiations (presumably never a big issue for him in eighteen years at Google), but it seems strange that the BBC's second offer in this year's pay round was double the first.  A move from 1% to 2%, still rejected by the unions, suggests the management side were playing hardball first time, and that Mr Brittin is heading for his first visit to ACAS. Perhaps he'll be able to remember his own salary when questioned... famously forgotten at Google when answering questions from MPs.

Extended

In Fort Lauderdale, Judge Kuntz has agreed with lawyers for both sides that Trump V BBC needs longer to sort out.  So the previous deadline to complete mediation moves from early November to early January 2027; and, if still going, both parties should be 'trial ready', by 6th April, rather than the previous 15th February. 

I suppose the BBC and its insurers can calculate the extended costs by a simple multiplication of the daily rate... 

Time for In Our Time

 Do we detect Matt Brittin kicking the traces over a bit of iPlayer/Sounds stubborness ?

This blog has noted the performance of In Our Time on Radio 4 as a catch-up/podcast since the BBC first started publishing Top Tens in November 2020.   When they also started highlighting programmes doing well with under-35s, there was Melvyn again. 

Now, In Our Time is to become a video-audio podcast from September 17th, available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. It's an obvious move, but I'm guessing previously challenged by 'Whose budget pays ?'

One oddity, the video version won't be available outside the UK; you would have thought that BBC Studios would bite your hand off for it. 

People person sought

The BBC has finally posted an ad to find a replacement for Uzair Qadeer as "Chief People Officer"; he announced his departure for BT in July. The recruitment is being handled by Korn Ferry and contact should be made with Ellie Filler (left), clearly a product of nominative determinism. 

ARE YOU THE RIGHT CANDIDATE?
The BBC’s next CPO will be a transformational, Board credible executive, adept at navigating complex, high-scrutiny organisations either as the sitting CPO, or as a strong number two with sufficient Executive and Board level experience and ready for a step up.

Except, perhaps that Uzair Qadeer wasn't a full BBC Board member, and there's no guarantee of a place for his successor.