One job or two

Richard Brooks of The Sunday Times is pretty certain. He says the headhunters looking for the next BBC DG have been asked by Lord Patten to consider splitting the job - to create a chief executive post AND an editor-in-chief. Richard says "The main reason given for the split is that it is difficult for one person to oversee a £4 billion business employing 20,000 people while also being in editorial charge of television and radio networks."

Let me take you back to the Observer of March 2004. James Robinson wrote "The title of BBC director-general could disappear under one of the most radical management shake-ups at the corporation for a generation, according to senior broadcasting industry sources. Under the proposals, said to be at an 'embryonic' stage, the director-general's job would be split between a chief executive and a new editor-in-chief, probably drawn from the BBC's news and current affairs arm."

A day later a BBC spokesman said "The most important thing to the corporation is its output and as such it would be inconceivable for the person at the top of the organisation not to have overall editorial control".

In 2004, there was a plethora of candidates for the DG vacancy - in April that year Mark Thomspon "ruled himself out", giving hope to the leading internals, Mark Byford and Jana Bennett. I wouldn't mind betting the first "split the job" story was part of a Stop-Byford campaign. This latest appearance may be part of a Stop-Boaden campaign.