We are at the halfway point of the BBC's review of editorial policies and governance, commissioned at the end of May by Director General Tim Davie and due to report in September. It's led by Sir Nick Serota, the BBC’s Senior Independent, Director, and supported by non-executive Ian Hargreaves and Sir Robbie Gibb, the man with no idea how to behave as a non-executive. Some legwork is being done by Chris Banatvala, seven years with Ofcom, and Caroline Daniel, former FT weekend editor, belatedly added when Tim remembered his diversity responsibilities.
Their looming problem is that BBC News is committed to attempting to change engines in the middle of a Formula 1 race, without coming into the pits. BBC News boss Fran Unsworth has told staff that she expects to have a completely new way of working, under the banner "Modernising News", finalised in September. A new Managing Editor is to be based in Salford, but working across the whole of News, alongside a new Business Operations Director. There's to be a new "Across The UK Project Director"; we're not told where she will be based.
Other baffling new news titles include Senior News Editor Formats; Executive Digital Editor; and a new World Story Team.
This is simply going too fast. The cause of the problem: the point blank refusal of former Director of News James Harding to make necessary cuts from his arrival in 2013, almost until his departure in 2018 He didn't even start acknowledging the problem til he was given a good kicking by finance chief and Deputy Director General Anne Bulford.
No comments:
Post a Comment