Consultant on board

The BBC Board went to Belfast in March, and discussed future strategy for News. Also present for that item was Jean-Paul Petranca (King's School, Chester and Balliol), Managing Director of the London branch of the Boston Consulting Group. Jean-Paul was last spotted by The Mail at the elbow of Director of Radio & Education, James Purnell.

Here's the statement of the problem Jean-Paul is working on: The Board noted that although BBC News was the largest news organisation in the UK, ahead of competition on TV & Radio and online, consumption was dropping among some segments of the audience, particularly the young and lower income households. Notably, within 16-24s, time spent with BBC Radio and TV news had dropped by approximately 20% compared to 2013, whereas online consumption was flat. This was in line with market trends across the industry. However, given the BBC’s mission and public purposes, and its strategic priority to reinvent BBC services for a new generation, there was a need to re-consider how BBC News could do more to reach those audiences currently underserved by the BBC, including those on lower incomes, the young, and audiences outside of London and the South East.