Un-Coyling

You're a leading writer on economics, and, as a DCMS-appointed-BBC-Trustee-seeking-to-be-a-Cameron-appointed Chairman, you try to make a reasoned and thoughtful summary of key BBC issues. Team Coyle may want to review their PR strategy this morning.

"Predictable BBC1 needs to improve drama, says BBC Trust chair Diane Coyle" - The Independent "EastEnders 'is too white to be authentic' warns head of BBC watchdog" - Daily Mirror
"EastEnders is too white, says BBC Trust chief" - Telegraph
"EastEnders is 'twice as white' as the real East End warns BBC Trust boss" - Mail Online
"BBC television output ‘too safe’, says Trust candidate Diana Coyle" - Financial Times
"Licence fee should be charged to iPlayer users, says acting chair of BBC Trust" - Guardian
"Diane Coyle warns government influence over BBC is growing" - Broadcast

Decoding this a bit, it's not nice for Lord Hall to have Danny Cohen, Ben Stephenson and Charlotte Moore kicked around in public. The problem is that the intellectuals of the Trust can't stand Casualty, Holby City, Waterloo Road and New Tricks, and dream of Wednesday Plays every day of the week.  However the C2DE audience loves them; costs have come down; and they fill schedules very successfully.  Predictable is part of the BBC1 ethos - why else hire Michelle Collins for Casualty ?

On the licence fee, a casual remark that the BBC might come forward with solutions to get iPlayer use within licence fee regulation does not necessarily mean that every student with a lap top will have to cough £145.50 - and that's not what Ms Coyle meant either.

On Government influence, Diane has identified the problem - that Ofcom, the NAO, the Lords, the Commons, the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, their myriad committees and inquiries, and the DCMS demand regular answers from the BBC Trust, on top of the PR fire-fighting against the baying vested interests of newspaper groups. But she doesn't offer a solution - let's hope she's found one by interview time.

One bit of the speech seems a little naive, and maybe Diane should meet more news teams: "Happily, in my time as a Trustee, I’ve been aware of hardly any occasions where politicians have actively tried to interfere in the BBC’s editorial judgements." Diane was first appointed in 2006.