Good Charlotte

Then, Charlotte Moore told her officers "Go forth and bring me programming on climate change, for has not God said, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. And, again, He said 'It not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?'"

And her officers, looking carefully at their shoes, went forth and scoured the darkest corners of the schedule, and did find some stuff with extraordinarily tendentious links to climate change...

Radio 3: The Tempest: 'a new environmentally-inflected version of Shakespeare’s play'

Radio 3:  Music Matters examines the environmental impact of classical music and how listeners and musicians are changing the way they work.

Social media 'The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales will surface daily digital content across all their social media including behind the scenes tours of how they meet sustainable outcomes, interviews with players about cycle to work schemes and films showcasing commissioned community compositions to raise awareness of climate change in Wales.'

Children's: Show Me The Honey 'follows wanna-be beekeepers as they learn everything there is to know about caring for a hive of 50,000 pollinators.' 

BBC4 Nature and Us: A History through Art. Art historian James Fox shows how the art of the past can perhaps offer lessons for our future on this planet.

Diversity by the numbers

The five-year review of diversity employment stats in UK broadcasting by Ofcom suggests too much concentration on entry level recruitment, with in-house monitors neglecting key issues of retention and career development. 

There have been considerable improvements in representation, but Ofcom saves a barb for minority ethnic group numbers at the microphone in radio: "Bauer and BBC Radio have reported almost no improvement in the period and are still far below the UK benchmark".

Erron the right side ?

 An early piece of falling-off-air avoidance by Piers Morgan; TalkTV have hired director Erron Gordon. 

Erron left GMB in August, set to join Sky News as "Head of Output"; it's possible Murdoch/Morgan has poached him even before he set foot in Osterley. 

Erron had 13 years at ITV, and seven at GMB...

I’ve been promoted to Presidential Butler 🎩 pic.twitter.com/VHKPx2e69o

— Erron Gordon (@errongordon) June 5, 2019

Fund

An idea proposed from inside BBC Media Action, the 'journalism charity' arm of the BBC, has lead to the International Fund for Public Media. The suggestion was made by James Deane, Head of Policy and adviser Maha Taki, in a blog post from April 2020.

Now former BBC DG Mark Thompson is on board as co-chair alongside Maria Ressa, Filipino journalist and 2018 Time Magazine Person of the Year. 

The aim: The International Fund is an independent, multilateral initiative dedicated to supporting independent journalism and the provision of trustworthy information around the globe. It aims to nurture and safeguard a sector that in many countries faces a potentially deadly combination of state hostility and economic disruption.

Vapour

Very much hoping that the UK's newsgathering resources, and indeed, the mobile phones of the general public, were able to capture the Government's new-discovered Reserve Tanker Fleet, with civilian drivers, in action somewhere... Kwasi wouldn't have made it up, would he ?

Brilliant

In a year of churn, it seems the BBC's Chief Customer Officer, Kerris Bright, has done enough to stay in Campaign's Power 100 listings for 2021. 

For Bright, the pandemic has accentuated the BBC’s raison d’être: to “inform, educate and entertain the nation”. “It’s why the BBC exists and it’s been wonderful to see how relevant the BBC remains to our audiences and how they turn to us at times of need,” she says. Highlights have included homeschooling help via BBC Bitesize (online and on air), dramas such as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You and shows such as The Repair Shop “that just provided some light relief”. “All supported by brilliant audience insight, data and marketing,” she says.

Pop pickers

The BBC has turned to someone more noted for production to be its first Commissioning Editor of Pop Music TV. Sally Wood first worked for the BBC in 2003, when the dull foot of ratings was on the neck of Top of The Pops. She got her first producer credit in 2004, when the show was hosted by Tim Kash. She was there when it moved to BBC2 in 2005, with Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates.

In those dying days, there were all sorts of attempts to resuscitate the patient. Sally produced Top of The Pops Alfresco, an hour long edition from Gateshead Quays; Andi Peters was brought in as an executive producer; they tried Chris Moyles as a host; Fearne Cotton was paired with Jeremy Clarkson, then Phil Tufnell; Andi Peters was replaced by Mark Cooper; Rufus Hound and Richard Bacon had goes at presenting; a February show came from the ski resort of Sauze d'Oulx, with Colin Jackson and Sue Barker; Jo Brand joined Fearne for two shows, gardener  Diarmuid Gavin got one outing.  Absolutely thrashing around. 

Mark Cooper and Sally Wood produced the last show at the end of July 2006, with hosts Sir Jimmy Savile, Tony Blackburn, Janice Long and Mike Read.

Sally left the BBC in 2010, after producing a long list of shows around individual artists, with a Christmas Top of the Pops special. 

Huawei we go

No China-anxiety for former BBC News executive Gavin Allen. He formally exited Broadcasting House earlier this month, and has now emerged as Executive Editor in Chief, Huawei Technologies. 

Gavin (Oundle and Christ's, Cambridge) was squeezed out in the Unsworth Restructure, and must have decided not punt for the top job. His adopted eldest daughter, Bo, was born in Guangxi. 

Price and value

There's a persistent mindset amongst this country's important businessmen and women, that the lowest price wins the customer, not the best value. 

It's driven a cost-cutting culture across all our domestic consumer-facing suppliers, since, I'd guess, the 1990s. Supermarkets have forced down the price (and quality) of chickens, milk and eggs. Food price inflation peaked at 13% in 2008; it's been in negative territory since November 2020, and only just moved positive. A sliced white loaf, at 800gm was around £1.32 in 2013, and now sells around £1.06. Supermarkets and other entrants have driven down the price of clothing and footwear - and contributed to 'fast fashion' and more landfill. Buyers have been looking for savings in every part of the chain, and distribution costs have been a big target. No wonder we came to rely more and more on lorry drivers from Europe (much as our lower-level professional football teams rely on cheaper players from Europe). 

Warehousing is the fastest growing sector of the property market. Enough sheds to cover Hyde Park are in the pipeline this coming year. Last-mile delivery is the latest hot target, for drivers who don't have HGV licences, and are prepared to flog themselves round 100+ drops in a day.  One wonders if and when this gets a challenge in the courts (cf Uber). 

There's so much stuff an interventionist government could do here. Create new buses services by using the empty legs of half empty vans; revive the high street by rewarding collection points, and relieving them of business rates; making Yodel, Hermes, UPS, DPD collaborate on some core activities.  

Then consider the mentality behind low tenders for Government services, coming from Serco, Capita, train companies, PPE providers etc; the drive for cheaper and cheaper building products in local government procurement (Grenfell ?).   Maybe we should take more interest in the Government's next steps from their Green Paper on Public Procurement, where they talk about 'unleashing' something or other....

Connected

GB News' presenter Alex Phillips spots her stepdad on air - the man she credits with "my politics and my brains!" 

I recognise this man https://t.co/lQ9B9u6nXZ

— Alex Phillips (@ThatAlexWoman) September 27, 2021

T45

If the net for director of BBC News is cast wide, it might include Will Lewis, former Telegraph editor, former CEO of Dow Jones, and publisher of the Wall Street Journal.  He's back in the UK, and signed up former Beeboid Kamal Ahmed to join his start-up, The News Movement, back in May. 

Now the company has undergone a name change, to the more mysterious T45, with interests in "News agency activities" and "Media representation services", headquartered in a converted farm barn in Wick, just outside Bristol. 

Hard problem

Is it possible that the fire suppression system at Red Bee's tv transmission centre in White City damaged what it was supposed to protect ?

Some channels are still struggling to get back on air in a steady state. It suggests that there may have been some corruption on the hard drives that keep broadcasting going. It could have happened as a result of vibration - when the systems discharge gas under high pressure (to rob a fire of oxygen) there's considerable noise, on top of the alarms, and vibration can cause the hard disk drive read/write head to go off track.  Some experts recommended cutting the power to hard drives before abandoning the site to the fire suppression system - hardly the point of protecting the asset !

Suppression

It's taking time to restore tv transmissions from Red Bee's centre at White City. BBC channels escaped major impact by switching to back-up systems in Salford, though Saturday evening's programmes were shorn of continuity announcers, forced to leave White City because of a fire alarm, and BBC World News lost some ads usually inserted by Red Bee.  

Channel 4 programmes are still disrupted - live cookery and chat show Sunday Brunch stuttered on and off air. It's thought they are limping along in 'disaster recovery' mode.

Unhappiness

Continuing rancour over the departure of A F Neil as chairman and lead presenter of GB News, here from former Brexit MEP Alexandra Phillips.

I’ve always been a fan of the great AFN. But his attack on the channel has hurt a lot of us, esp hard working young producers. And he said pretty spiteful stuff about ‘this’ Patrick Christys. We don’t understand why he wants to beat on the rest of us. We haven’t done him wrong!😞 https://t.co/3dVTbQsm9x

— Alex Phillips (@ThatAlexWoman) September 25, 2021

Alex has the endorsement of Nick Pollard, currently minding the direction of journalism at GB News.

An excellent presenter at the top of her game right now.

— Nick Pollard (@NickPollard2) September 2, 2021

Relativities

Has the BBC declared an end to the salary freeze for senior executives ?  In the spirit of that freeze,  Director General Tim Davie agreed to the same base salary as Lord Hall - £450k - when he formally took over the job in September last year, on the understanding that it would rise to £525k.  That's now been triggered, according to the BBC's website. 

Director of Content Charlotte Moore was revealed to be on £402k in July, from £370k the previous year. Another board level executive, Fran Unsworth, was unchanged at £340k, whilst new Chief Operating Officer Leigh Tavaziva has landed on £400k. . 

Debbie harried

It looks like BBC DG Tim Davie sounded out his interlocutor at the RTS Cambridge do earlier this month, Deborah Turness, for the Director of News gig. According to Jake Kanter in The Times, she's turned down the opportunity. 

Deborah, 54, (St Francis' College and The Knights Templar School in Baldock; BA French & English, University of Surrey; postgraduate course in journalism at Bordeaux University)  rose to Editor ITV News in 2004, then took a big job, President of News at NBC in 2013. It may have been too big; she came back to the UK in 2017, to set up NBC News International, based on Euronews, headquartered in Lyon. NBC sold its stake in Euronews last April, with another emerging plan, NBC Sky World News. Four months later,  that plan was dropped, citing commercial challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic. 917of Bordeaux, France.   She's been back at ITN as CEO since March. 

It's also possible that, during the convention, Tim sounded out former news executive Roger Mosey, for his views on possible candidates, with a quick visit to his alma mater, Selwyn College. 

Love lost = 0

Here's the alternative view on Andrew Neil's near-breakdown, re-tweeted by GB News chairman Sir Paul Marshall

 

It's so sad to see Andrew Neil's very public breakdown.

He's had an established career as a strong interviewer, it's such a shame he didn't retire in grace.

Throwing his former friends and colleagues under the bus like this is disloyal and petulant.

I pray he finds peace. pic.twitter.com/C3ewyxSei1

— Calvin (@calvinrobinson) September 25, 2021

Pointless ?

The Times raises questions about the exit of Jeremy Adams from the management team at BBC Northern Ireland, and brings in the names of two senior executives - Rhodri Talfan Davies and Bob Shennan. 

It says that two years ago Rhodri investigated grievances against Mr Adams, and that, as recently as June, Bob reviewed that exercise with unhappy complainants who said the procedure had been 'as pointless as it was painful'.  Mr Adams seems to have departed in January, with a glowing tribute from NI boss Peter Johnston; he may or may not have received a sum for having his job 'restructured'. 

One former BBC NI employee Una Carlin recently revealed that she'd signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of a settlement of her claims. Former producer Lena Ferguson has a High Court claim for damages for bullying pending. 

• If you want to catch up with Bob, he'll be part of Radiodays Europe Women in Lisbon next month, with a three hour long masterclass with other top level executives, "who will share their own experience, and provide advice to women who aspire to be more empowered in the workplace, and to take the position they really want."

It's going to be a disaster

 I don't want to sound 'woke', but it is almost as if the poor man was bullied. 

Andrew Neil has turned to Rebecca Hardy of The Daily Mail for the inside story of his tearful time at GB News.  Rebecca worked for Andrew as deputy editor then editor of The Scotsman over 20 months at the turn of the century. 

'I came close to a breakdown', says Andrew.

'Live TV is stressful at the best of times but not knowing whether or not the technology would work… It just got worse and worse. At one stage, we were waiting to go on air and the whole system went down. It had to be rebooted and we only managed it with 15 seconds to spare.

‘That stress was just huge. It meant you couldn’t think about the journalism. You were just constantly wondering: “Will we make it through the hour?” By the end of that first week, I knew I had to get out. It was really beginning to affect my health. I wasn’t sleeping. I was waking up at two or three in the morning.

‘I had a constant knot in my stomach. When I did wake up I’d feel fine, then remember all the problems I had with GB News and this knot would come and wouldn’t leave me for the whole day.

'I do feel angry though about what they’ve done to a beautiful dream. This was a vision that might have worked. But if you watch the constant themes that come through again and again from the shock jockeys on GB News, the perception is “we hate migrants, we hate the NHS, we hate lockdown and we hate Meghan Markle”.

 ‘When I do look back, the one thing I will say is I wish I’d been more publicly demonstrative about not launching on June 13. It wouldn’t have stopped the launch and it wouldn’t have stopped the s***-show that followed, but I would have been on the record saying: “Don’t do this. It’s going to be a disaster.” ’

Storyville

Small comfort: 1,479 people working in BBC News know what their job will be from next month, according to departing News boss Fran Unsworth. "Selection processes are underway for remaining roles, and we are aiming to conclude those as quickly as possible so we can give everyone certainty as soon as we can."

No details of exactly how many people are still without news on their preferences, or, indeed, what the final headcount of hacks will be, with a target of 450 post closures. 

Yanked

Just as the DCMS places a nebulous emphasis on "distinctively British" programming in public service broadcasting, the BBC signs a deal with NBC to co-commission new "with transatlantic potential". 

NBC and the BBC have already co-operated on The Wall, and The Wheel, and the BBC boasts that they have 'shared DNA'.  Perhaps we can look forward to unscripted shows called "The Condo", "Top Stick Shift", and "Last Chance Sedan". 

Does that person exist ?

I was struck by this quote, found by media writer Ian Burrell, for a feature in the (London) Evening Standard on the hunt for someone to replace BBC Director of News, Fran Unsworth. 

We know that headhunters will be appointed; Tim Davie told MPs so this week. 

'In his dreams he would love to find someone who is massive in Google who could transform BBC News into the world’s premier digital news organisation,' says one who knows him. 'But does that person exist?'

It's a credible quote, but disappointing that Tim doesn't recognise how well the BBC is still doing on this front - certainly in multimedia terms. The groups that are ahead of the BBC in digital reach for news are largely the aggregators, Google, Yahoo - and the social media usual suspects, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram, etc (where many consume the BBC indirectly). Tim, shortly after his accession, described the World Service and the BBC World News channel as 'matchless'. The BBC's own Global Audience Measure seems to have skipped 2021, but cannot be far away from Lord Hall's 500m target. Entertainingly the biggest growth has come from returning Foreign Office investment in services to Asia and Africa. 

Journalism is not over-populated with digital saviours, and few that the BBC would want to follow. The New York Times got Mark Thompson - he brought digital subscriptions for crosswords and cookery, and a daily podcast. Martin Clarke has turned the Mail Online into a global player, with showbiz photos 'showcasing toned figures'. The Guardian punches above its weight internationally, but only keeps going with a begging bowl. The Telegraph spent three years trying various digital gurus without obvious success. New entrants Huffpost, Buzzfeed and Vice attract eyeballs in ways the BBC couldn't contemplate. 

More to come on this, including how Tim can save money on headhunters...

Back to Waterloo Road

The return of Waterloo Road to BBC1 has been some time in gestation. 

It started out in 2006, shot in the former Hill Top Community Primary School in Kirkholt, Rochdale, now demolished. In 2012 it moved to the former Greenock Academy, Madeira Street, Greenock - Shed Productions said it would be cheaper, but there was undoubtedly pressure to get more BBC business done in Scotland. The first episode from Greenock got an early run on BBC1 Scotland. (The site was put up for sale by Inverclyde Council this month). 

It was cancelled in 2015.  Charlotte Moore, then Controller BBC1 and Ben Stephenson, Controller of Drama, chanted ""We believe it has reached the end of its lifecycle ... On BBC One it's important to make room for new drama and we are committed to commissioning new drama series for 8pm. There are some really exciting ideas currently in development but nothing to confirm yet." Donalda McKinnon, Head of Programmes, Scotland said "It's always sad when any long-running show comes to an end and I know the Waterloo Road team will miss Greenock - as will fans of the show. Our firm aim now, however, is to use that to continue growing the TV and the wider creative sector here in Scotland utilising the increased skill base arising from Waterloo Road to build up future home-grown culturally representative output."

The final season was moved to BBC3 for the last ten episodes. The last shows on BBC12 averaged 2.6m, down from peaks about 5m.  

The Waterloo Road Twitter account started in 2009; from July 2017, old episodes started appearing officially on YouTube, alongside compilations, like 'Best Fights', 'Best Break-ups' and 'Best Kissers'; in 2019, all episodes were made available on iPlayer. 

In May this year, former Waterloo Road producer Cameron Roach registered a new company, Rope Ladder Fiction. In September he announced his departure from Sky where he had been director of drama since 2013. Today, his new company is partnered with Wall to Wall to bring back Waterloo Road 'from Greater Manchester'.  Shed and Wall to Wall sort of merged, and are now owned by Warner Brothers.

Interesting and noted

Ofcom's Group Director of Content and Media Policy Kevin Bakhurst was out and about patrolling social media last night - presumably part of a one-man campaign to reduce online harm. 

Interesting and noted https://t.co/PVdcPzynaV

— Kevin Bakhurst (@kevinbakhurst) September 22, 2021

Some organs have suggested that Kevin might be a candidate to replace Fran Unsworth at the top of BBC News. Fran's salary last year was £340k+; Kevin's basic was £246k, rising to £301k if you include benefits and pension allowance. Who has the easier job ? Would Kevin want to risk failure, from a job judging journalism, to a job doing journalism ? 

Divide and...

BBC Design & Engineering seems to have been redivided again - into "Product", reporting to newbie Storm Fagan and "Technology" reporting to DMI-survivor Peter O'Kane. 

All very modern. The division seems also to be much more flexible about where people notionally 'work' if a current advert for a Senior SAP Project Manager is to be believed: "Contractual base can be London, Salford, Glasgow, Birmingham or Cardiff, United Kingdom". If only News could see it that way...

Ambivalence

Can we have a short piece from the BBC Science Story team about the Haber-Bosch process, which converts hydrogen and nitrogen to ammonia, and was previously highlighted for tons of CO2 emissions ? In 2010 it was responsible for a total of 1% of all global CO2 emissions. 

Is it now sustainable ?

And a second piece on the use of CO2 in food shelf life extension ?

Headhunters activated

BBC Chairman Richard Sharp has confirmed that the vacancy at the top of BBC News will be advertised internally and externally, and headhunters will be involved.  He told MPs at the Culture Select Committee that the recruitment will be led by Director General Tim Davie, and if the successful candidate is deemed to be Board material, that will be a matter for the Board Nominations Committee.

Tim Davie added that interviews could come in November. 

None of your business

The Times says that between 35 and 40 people who on BBC World Service business programmes are refusing to move to that noted global financial and trade hub, Salford. 

"No thank you" has been the response to BBC News' Preference Survey, and The Times says industrial inaction could be on the cards. 

Business programmes on the World Service include Business Matters, at 0100; Business Daily, 0830; World Business Report, 1530, and another World Business Report at 2330. 

Editor Alison

Congratulations to Alison Holt, anointed BBC Social Affairs Editor (from Social Affairs Correspondent). 

We think Polly Toynbee was the first to hold this title, lured from The Guardian in 1988 by John Birt, as part of his changes at BBC News. She sat alongside John Simpson, Foreign Affairs and Peter Jay, Economics. She left for the Independent in 1995.  Polly was a Birt fan, and even tried to organise a letter of support in 1993, when it was discovered that Birt's BBC earnings were channelled through a private company. 

Alison (BA English, Sussex; journalism post-grad at Cardiff) started out with Ocean Sound, broadcasting from Fareham in the mid-eighties, already specialising in stories on the social affairs beat. She reported for the regional BBC programme First Sight, before joining BBC2's Public Eye in 1994. She won the 2015 Royal Television Society's Specialist Journalist of the Year award; the judges said she consistently delivered stories which were "agenda-setting, policy shifting and politically important - while treating people at the heart of the stories with patience, knowledge and understanding."

Where's Andrew ?

Mmm. No sign of Andrew 'Hostage' Neil, promised as a regular Monday contributor, on last night's edition of Farage on GB News.  No details shared on Barb about top 15 programmes in their latest public release, but the channel's four-week reach is stuck at 2.1m. 

Rob

Rob Oxley, 35, will be be Special Advisor to Nadine Dorries at the DCMS. He's just back from honeymoon, after marrying Government press officer Stephanie Mann (who's off to spin for the Serious Fraud Office). 

He likes watching rugby union and American football (used to play defensive lineman for Sheffield Sabres and for London Olympians at Blackheath); he likes computer games. He started out from Sheffield University (Politics and International Relations) with Santander, then switched to being a Parliamentary Assistant, working for Brexiteer Anne Main. Sharper spinning followed with The Taxpayers' Alliance,  Business for Britain, and Vote Leave. He joined Priti Patel at DfID in 2016.

In 2018, Oxley took a break from politics to work in comms for Deliveroo, under George Osborne's inamorata, Thea Rogers, and returned as Press Secretary at No 10 in July 2019.

He's done some unintentional broadcasting, on Good Morning Britain. During the 2019 election campaign, he was heard to mutter “for fuck’s sake”, as he shielded Boris Johnson into a fridge at the Modern Milkman dairy in the Tory marginal of Pudsey. A GMB camera team was doorstepping Boris, while Piers Morgan shouted questions from their London studio. 

He was on camera again, in this coffee moment two years ago.

No caffeine for you prime minister. pic.twitter.com/zneHkziWKH

— Ashley Cowburn (@ashcowburn) October 1, 2019

 

In his most recent job, Rob probably wishes he could have kept Dominic Raab, in some form of cold storage.  Still, he seems a loyal kinda guy. 

Dom was a great boss & he remains the one of the most effective thing British politics has seen - Politicial special forces as one MP called him. Paul Stephenson was a bloody brilliant Comms director who many industry types loved to tell at the time how our comms was terrible.

— Robert Oxley (@roxley) January 7, 2019

Julia

Julia Lopez seems like a hard-working MP from her Twitter feed, but it's not obvious why she's ended up at the DCMS. She went to see The Tina Turner Musical for an anniversary treat on the day she was appointed; she follows, as she should, Hornchurch FC; and celebrated a recent DCMS grant for The Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch. 

Julia, 37, was born in Julia Dockerill, in Harlow, Essex. She went to Hertfordshire and Essex High School, then read Social & Political Sciences at Queens' College, Cambridge. She worked as a researcher for Conservative MP Mark Field, and continued during his time as a minister. She was co-author with Field of the books The Best of Times and Between the Crashes. In 2016 she was famously photographed in Downing Street, emerging from a Brexit strategy meeting, carrying notes which read "What's the strategy ?  Have cake and eat it". 

In 2014, she was elected as a councillor on Tower Hamlets Council, and won the safe seat of Hornchurch and Upminster in June 2017, beating Simon Jones and Shaun Bailey in the shortlisting. In September that year, she married her British-Australia-born-in-El-Salvador-partner Lorenzo Lopez, and they had a baby daughter in October 2019. In February 2020, she joined the Cabinet Office, with Digital Britain responsibilities, and has been sent to the dispatch box more than once to stonewall questions aimed at Michael Gove. 

Wellbeing

In the old days, there was the "BBC Doctor" to see, if employees had some work-related problem. Then it became "Head of Occupational Health".   Since 2020 it was rebranded to: "Head of Medical Affairs", now vacant again.  

Above this, presumably, sits Dr Clare Fernandes, Chief Medical Officer. 

Sir Robbie's induction

BBC minutes show that Sir Robbie Gibb's first Board meeting as a non-executive was an extraordinary Zoom meeting in May to sign off on the report of Lord Dyson into the activities of Martin Bashir in securing the Panorama interview with Princess Diana. 

Two days later, his first full board meeting, still by video, started with a session with the exciting trio at the top of Ofcom, Maggie Carver, Melanie Dawes and Kevin Bakhurst. The minutes shine no light on topics discussed. Sir Robbie will have been familiar with them as he paved the way for the creation of GB News, back in August last year. 

Rumbling on

"The Martin Bashir problem" continues. This week, we learnt that the BBC has offered compensation to former Royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, of around £100,000, for the way her name was traduced by the rogue reporter, with made-up lines about an abortion that Princess Diana clearly believed. 

This weekend, the Mail on Sunday devotes several pages to Bashir's role in an unbroadcast investigation for the BBC2 series Public Eye, commissioned by editor Nigel Chapman.  This story has been festering since 2004.  In August 1991, Michelle Hadaway says she gave some of her murdered daughter's clothing to Bashir and got a receipt. Four-year-old Karen had been sexually assaulted and murdered in a Brighton park in 1986, alongside Nicola Fellows.  Michelle was told the BBC would conduct new DNA tests on the clothes.

In 2004 a BBC spokesman said "We have only recently learnt that these items may have been in the possession of Public Eye in 1991. The BBC has made extensive inquiries to try to track them down without success. We will continue to look into this."

At that time, Bashir's agent, John Miles told the Daily Mirror that Bashir was "very concerned. The clothes were taken to this production meeting. Martin is doing everything he can to find them."

Now a recently-departed editorial standards supremo from the BBC, Paul Smith, is reported to be looking back at that 2004 investigation, and whether or not it really tried. 

The MoS helpfully reminds us that Jonathan Munro, who it believes to be in 'pole position' to run BBC News, played a key part in bringing back Bashir to his department, reporting on religion. 

Title deeds

Is it time for a review of the status of the WGLFC * ?  Current holder John Simpson put a brave face on last week's failure to make it all the way to Kabul, filing from the Afghan border, before turning back to interview Imran Khan in Islamabad. Thence back to the UK, to present a new secret-squirrel show for BBC2. 

Meanwhile other BBC lines of communication got Secunder Kermani in and out of Taliban-controlled Kabul, and at the end of the week managed to fly in Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen. Maybe it's time to take the 'travel anywhere' off Simpson's twitter profile. 

* World's Greatest Living Foreign Correspondent

Marshall amplification

It's clearly difficult to disentangle yourself from GB News - Media Guardian reports that Andrew Neil engaged an employment lawyer as early as mid-July to help him get out of a four-year contract said to be worth £700,000 a year. 

This might explain why others are slower in moving on. Is possible that Simon McCoy, for example, is working notice, rather than paying for the services of m'learned friends ?  

Meanwhile it seems Sir Paul Roderick Clucas Marshall has stepped forward to chair All Perspectives, the owners of GB News. Sir Paul made his money from hedge funds, and is said to have contributed £10m to the fledgling channel. Sir Paul, 62 (Merchant Taylor's Northwood, St John's College Oxford and Insead) dallied with support for the LibDems between 2002 and 2015, and fell out over Brexit. In 2016, he donated £3,250 to Michael Gove's leadership campaign; he was a non-exec at the Education Department during Gove's tenure there. Later in 2016, he gave £100,000 to the Leave campaign. In 2019, he gave £500,000 to the Conservative Party. 

Before GB News, the news felt pretty humourless and negative.

People want balanced discussion and impartial shows, and that’s what we try to deliver.

Thanks for supporting us in doing something new 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/7SQ96JHrvm

— GB News (@GBNEWS) September 18, 2021

Formal

Expect a rare outbreak of suits and ties on Tuesday, when BBC Director General Tim Davie and his straight man Chairman Richard Sharp appear in front of the Culture Select Committee. The session will also provide a first public outing for new Chief Operating Officer, Leigh Tavaziva. 

Unless we have an announcement of a new licence fee settlement before then, the big questions about what next for the BBC will not really get firm answers. 

Deal or no deal ?

An interesting challenge ahead for Tim Davie and Richard Sharp, men with past Tory connections at the top of the BBC. In a matter of days or weeks, the scale of the BBC licence fee for next five years will be announced. My firm belief is that will be a decision taken by The Treasury, and Nadine will have little say. 

The issue for Tim and Dicky is how they present, say, a frozen settlement, to the public and staff. Will it be a 'triumph in the circumstances', allowing the BBC to 'move forward on a range of initiatives'.  Or a more honest statement 'You've broken both arms and both legs, but we accept you haven't quite killed us' ?

Booster Tim should review what Lord Hall said at the time of the last settlement "It gives us financial stability and the ability to plan for the future".  Not quite, it seems, as the Corporation was dragged down financially and reputationally by being forced to be nasty to everyone over 75.   In all this 'financial stability', BBC3 closed as a linear channel, and the BBC lost more and more live sport, and half of every significant drama brought money to competitors, not to the BBC.  

Tim gets excited at bringing BBC3 back, at monstering the world with variants of BritBox and BBC Select, and doing new things.  Is he really capable of leading retrenchment ?

Why...

Clearly lawyers were involved in Andrew Neil's partial extraction from GB News.  His brief appearance on the Farage show had 'non-disclosure agreement' written all over the way these two fearless champions of truth and transparency dodged the issue of why Neil was stepping down as chairman and chief presenter of the channel. 

Was Neil's wording on Question Time last night sufficient to stay in the terms of a deal presumably designed to protect the financial interests of The Great Scotsman and Legatum's appointed lawyers ?

Here’s @afneil in his own words pic.twitter.com/I41rw9zdS5

— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) September 16, 2021

Davie speak

 "Going cold turkey on the studios business – and what that means – is quite a balanced decision."

Tim Davie, BBC Director General, at the RTS Cambridge Convention yesterday.

Saviour ?

Is it a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo going back to Man Utd ?  Piers Morgan is rejoining Rupert Murdoch's suite of companies; he first started with them as a freelance on The Sun in 1988, rising to editor of The News of the World, where many exclusives were provided by Max Clifford ("He is trustworthy, always looks after his mates and no tabloid editor worth his or her salt would cross him" Piers Morgan 2012). He left in 1995, shortly after publishing pictures of Earl Spencer's wife leaving an addictive disorders clinic in Surrey. 

Rupert has lighted upon Piers as a figurehead for TalkTV coming to a set near you in 2022. Piers will host a global 'weeknight' talk show, which will also apparently fit on FOX Nation and Sky News Australia (previously run by Angelos Frangopoulos, and seen as a blueprint for the current evening format of GB News). Piers will leave the Mail, and become a columnist for The Sun and the New York Post, and his next book will be published by Harper Collins. 

The thing about Cristiano Ronaldo was that he was good at football and scored a lot of goals. Piers Morgan's record as a tv host is less sparkly. He tried hard at CNN, but, in general, the audience figures picked up after he left. His impact at GMB has been largely oversold, largely by selective use of figures by Piers himself. I'd be surprised if Fox Nation rebroadcasts Piers in prime. Sky News Australia could do with a boost - evening shows are watched by averages below Farage on GB News, at 70,000 odd. 

Opportunity

Who will be first to win the tv rights to Nadine Dorries' eminently serialisable novels ?  Netflix ?  Amazon ?  C4 ? 

The Four Streets, 2014 "A heartbreaking family saga set in 1950s Liverpool, the first novel from the stunningly talented Nadine Dorries MP."

Hide Her Name, 2014 "This gripping follow on from The Four Streets finds the community alive with rumours and gossip after the murder which rocked it to the core."

Run to Him, 2014 "A wonderful Christmas story, set in the Irish Catholic community of the Four Streets in Liverpool."

Coming Home to the Four Streets, 2020 "Summer is coming to the four streets – but so is trouble, especially for its redoubtable women, who've struggled through a bitter winter to put food on the table."

Run to Him, 2014 "A wonderful Christmas story, set in the Irish Catholic community of the Four Streets in Liverpool."

Or you could opt for the other series, The Angels of Lovely Lane. Or watch Call the Midwife.

Culture wars

Hard-rocking horror-loving hangover from the last century, the Thatcherite John Whittingdale, is leaving the DCMS, just as the Government decides on a new licence fee, and pushes to sell C4. It must have been a confusing 24 hours for the Essex MP, first having to read out Oliver Dowden's speech to the RTS Cambridge convention via Zoom, then, I'm guessing, spending the night imagining he'll be still in post to give PBS-handling ballast to Nadine Dorries. 

Whittingdale's exit proves that Carrie hasn't got total control of the reshuffle. 

Meanwhile we wait to see who gets to assist Nadine apply her beloved 'financial hammer' to the BBC.

. 

Sharp-ish

Richard Sharp's first major speech as BBC Chairman ran to some 2,400 words, and comes out as "difficult to read" on the Flesch Reading Ease index and "hard to read" on Gunning Fog; without stumbles, it should have lasted 13 minutes. 

His writers make many references - Professor Robin Dunbar, evolutionary psychologist; poet John Milton; James Murdoch, once of News Corp; satirist Jonathan Swift; Conservative politician Stanley Baldwin; Stephen Sanger, CEO General Mills; a New York Times editorial from October 2020; former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; and George Orwell.  The best we can give is β-. 

At least Tim Davie and comms supremo John Shield allowed Chairman Sharp make one news item - he was the first to formally confirm the appointment of Jess Brammar as an executive editor in BBC News, a decision approved internally seven days ago. Mr Sharp rewarded his minders with a gaffe; in post-speech conversation with Stephanie Flanders, he described the potential privatisation of C4 as "a little local issue". That's not the way to win media friends. 

Nadine

Nadine Dorries, 64 (Rose Heath Primary School and Halewood Grange Comprehensive School) was born in Liverpool, and from school worked as a trainee nurse in 1975, before moving to medical sales in 1982. She first stood for Parliament in 2000, and was elected for Mid-Bedfordshire in 2005. She is divorced, with three children. Her first novel, The Four Streets, was published in 2014. 

Her previous tweets suggest some familiarity with at least one BBC non-executive, even if confused, once again, with a Bee Gee.  

@RobbieGibb @daily_politics Hi Robin, I will send you a link to my adjournment debate tomorrow night gender balance in the BBC :)

— Nadine Dorries MP (@NadineDorries) January 22, 2012

Ms Dorries let rip about broadcasting and BBC gender balance in that debate. She reminded MPs of her thoughts on Andrew Neil "I am not proud of the fact that I described him as an ageing, overweight, orange toupee-wearing has-been."  

In November 2012, she was suspended from the Conservative whip for taking part in reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! without informing the Chief Whip.

In 2018, she said Have I Got News For You is “too vicious” for most female contestants and guests and does not “lend itself to women feeling comfortable”. She appeared on Ian Hislop's team in 2012. 

Danny and the Fox-ification of GB News

Danny Finkelstein in The Times on GB News: 

Most of the time the channel features one right-wing person discussing right-wing opinions with another right-wing person for an audience consisting only of right-wing people.....

Slowly the channel’s schedule is being taken over by people making straight-to-YouTube videos on behalf of Ukip. There is a uniformity to the view expressed, which is that the world is going to hell in a handcart due to stupid modern ideas and the people in charge aren’t doing anything about it. The voices of common sense are portrayed as a small beleaguered minority who would struggle for a platform if it were not for brave GB News.

The main problem with all of this is that it is nonsense. Farage does not struggle for a platform, nor was he cruelly excluded from appearing on the BBC. Britain has a Conservative cabinet in which sit Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel. One or two people who oppose cancel culture have even managed to secure newspaper columns in leading outlets.

The challenge for the right is to ensure that the dominant institutions and ideas it supports — consumer capitalism, for instance, or immigration control, or Brexit — actually work, rather than pretend that the world is really being controlled by a charity boss who has put up a plaque about slavery or an academic writing a paper on critical race theory.

Powerful people commiserating with each other about how powerless they are isn’t much of a basis for a political movement. Or even, as it turns out, for a niche TV channel.

Having a laugh

Either it was a charade, or Oliver Dowden was up all night assessing the public consultation on the future of Channel 4. It closed as 11.45pm last night, and this morning, Sky News has revealed that Mr Dowden has appointed JP Morgan to advise on privatisation of the channel.

Cohort

GB News' four week reach is down to 2.1m at the beginning of September, from 3.6m at the beginning of July. 

This figure is roughly in line with Sky Cinema Comedy, Eurosport 2, Box Hits and Now 90s. Of course, GB News running costs are considerably higher. 

National commitments

A gentle moan about process at the BBC all-new Nations division, led from near Wales by Rhodri Talfan Davies.  He's clearly driven forward two meetings of Board sub-committees, for Wales on 7th March, and for Scotland on 21st March - but the link to the minutes has never worked.  Meanwhile, there's no sign of a meeting of the Northern Ireland Committee since November last year. And the England Committee, in theory chaired by the entirely competent Sir Robbie Gibb, across all appointments, produced its last minutes from a meeting in May 2020. 

City folk

We noted before how many production staff recruited by GB News had City University in their cvs.

So perhaps it's not surprising that three leavers reported by The Times are also City alumni - Jamie McConkey (2009) Sarah Weaver (2004) and Joceline Sharman (2014).

Anna

Patricia Hildago, Director of BBC Children's and Education, has created a post called Head of Children’s Content & Programming Strategy. And it has been filled by Anna Taganov, who worked with Patricia at Disney. 

Anna, born in Balashikha, started out in media with the Russian pop station, Radio Maximum, alongside six years study at the Moscow State Academy of Law. She joined Disney in 2007, at the Russian end of their international children's channel Jetix, moving to London in 2010. 

Almost out

Andrew Neil is a man of certainties and incisive judgements. Both seem to have deserted him as he agreed to be the commercial and on-screen figurehead of GB News, and signed up formally in January as a company director.  One wonders if he had financial skin in the game beyond a salary - All Perspectives Ltd, though a private company, has shares. In April it issued 4.5m preference shares, through Panmure Gordon, alongside 13,500 ordinary shares. At that time, the company declared some new names with 'significant control', Christopher Chandler, Mark Stoleson, and Alan McCormick, all from Legatum.  

It's not an absolutely clean break - Neil has clearly agreed to appear at least once a week as a contributor to the Nigel Farage show on Mondays.  Leverage ?

'Joining me is somebody I have enormous respect for...'

Andrew Neil joins Nigel Farage for the first time in his new GB News role. pic.twitter.com/DLTWKMCbkd

— GB News (@GBNEWS) September 13, 2021

Gerry's on

GB News' new business show launches with a big guest - at least, according to the caption.  According the Policy Exchange website, he's not even the leading economist at that right-wing think tank, but merely a Senior Fellow......

Andrew ? Andrew ?

 Some elements of GB News 'new' schedule seem to be on air this morning, though not without glitches. 

Not sure that is his name.

(via. a source) pic.twitter.com/QVUF7jOmKf

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) September 13, 2021

In this new schedule, Michelle Dewberry is reduced to one hour.  Andrew Neil hasn't tweeted for a couple of days - could he be back in the slot that bears his name tonight ?

 

Straight sets

Enterprise was rewarded at Channel 4, with very good figures for live coverage of the US Open Final. An average of 5.4m were watching across the 3+ hours of coverage, with a 39.9% share of the total tv audience, and 48% of available 16-34 year-olds. The actual tennis averaged 7.6m, with a peak of 9.2m. 

We'll bring you news of The Proms when it reaches us...

Adequately understood

The BBC's Storm Fagan, fresh delivered from Just Eat as Chief Product Officer, requires a colleague, to be known as Director, Product Management, in a role defined by spurious use of capital letters and by split infinitives. 

You’re going to be accountable for achieving user and business value in line with the digital products' strategy, Setting standards and best practice for their discipline, engaging widely internally and externally, and applying trends and insights to continually improve the performance of the Product Group. This includes financial accountability for your discipline, including headcount budgets in which you’ll work very closely with HR, Finance, and the Product Group Leadership Team to ensure workforce planning is adequately understood and phased

Roughhouse - 2

 In the Mail On Sunday, Katie Hind, Showbusiness Editor, continues to plough a furrow a little distanced from her usual fields.  After her hatchet job on Jess Brammar, she lays into two of the possible candidates to replace Fran Unsworth. 

Katie finds Beeboids ready to tell her that Jonathan Munro is 'divisive', 'a liberal leftie', a Marmite figure ‘who never takes blame for blunders’  ‘Jonathan has a gang. If you’re in it, then you’ll do well. If you’re not, then you don’t. You either love him or you loathe him.’

Meanwhile rival candidate Jamie Angus is ‘shy’ and ‘not wanting a public profile’. Katie finds a picture of him dressed for a 1960s themed party from Facebook. 

Roughhouse - 1

Ouch. It looks like the search for a new Director of BBC News has already created opportunities for some unpleasant anonymous briefers, sharing their alleged insights with The Times' Rosamund Urwin. 

He is too diplomatic to say it openly, but those who know the BBC boss Tim Davie claim he is secretly delighted that his director of news and current affairs is departing. According to a source who has spoken to Davie, he believed Fran Unsworth, who resigned on Tuesday, was “stuck in her ways”, part of a wider malaise that he is desperate to address.

Rosamund has been pointed in the direction of a possible successor. 

One possible candidate is a relative unknown in London media circles: Naja Nielsen, who joined the BBC as digital director for news in 2019. A member of the BBC’s news group board, Nielsen was head of news at the Danish broadcaster DR and has impressed Davie. On her LinkedIn profile, she stresses her commitment to impartiality — music to Davie’s ears.

Rosamund believes that the appointment of Jess Brammar to run TV News Channels is a significant problem for one other possible candidate. 

It is a black mark against another potential successor to Unsworth, Jamie Angus, now the senior controller of news output and commissioning, who made the decision to hire Brammar.

She finds other critics of Angus. 

“He’s a dilettante,” claimed one. “When he was at the World Service, and your job is to know this stuff, I remember him saying he hadn’t heard of Waziristan, which was where [Osama] bin Laden was hiding at the time.”

Radio Arts

Controller Radio 4 Mohit Bakaya has chosen a weekend to release his latest re-shaping of arts coverage on Radio 4. He's confirmed that Saturday Review and The Film Programme bite the dust, but calculates that there'll be more total arts minutes on air. 

Film coverage moves to a new show, Screenshot, but it's only going to be broadcast two months on, two months off, on Friday evenings. Maybe British cinemas could fall into line with this schedule. Mark Kermode is teamed with Ellen E Jones, for added diversity. Ellen, 37 (BA English Literature, King's College, Cambridge, postgrad journalism City University) has been writing for The Independent, The Guardian and Empire Magazine. 

Screenshot alternates with a new show on music that suggests Radio 4 commissioners would really prefer to run 6Music. "Add to Playlist" features hosts Cerys Matthews and, for added diversity, Jeffrey Boakye. Jeffrey, 39, (BA English Literature, Leicester, PGCE King's College London) is a teacher and writer, based just outside Hull. The pair will construct a playlist each week with their guests. 

John Wilson gets an arts interview show, This Cultural Life, to run at 7.15pm on Saturdays.  Front Row will run from Monday to Thursday, and gets an extra 15 minutes, using two regular presenters, Samira Ahmed and Tom Sutcliffe (hope their on the same money).

Eclipsed ?

Another tricky evening for the Last Night of The Proms. In 2020, with the on-off row about Rule Britannia ! and no live audience, the concert was watched by 2.1m, down from the average 3.5m of previous years.  Now Channel 4 have coughed up a seven-figure number to acquire live coverage of Emma Raducanu's attempt to clinch the US Open, I'm not sure BBC1 will improve on the 2020 figure. Sakari Oramo's baton goes live on BBC1 at 9pm, just as Emma's match begins...

Radio rescue

It looks like we're on the way to a public sharing of radio audience figures again. RAJAR are set to publish a new quarter's worth of data on Thursday 28th October.  Their system relies on face-to-face recruiting of a balanced panel who then complete either paper or online listening diaries, and are then re-interviewed. That face to face work was frozen because of lockdown in March 2020. 

Since then, we've had hints that early breakfast listening collapsed, with people working from home not getting up as early - or consoling themselves with the car radio on commutes. Since then, we've had a cascade of chill, mindfulness and mental health podcasts. Since then, we've had the launch of Times Radio, on June 29, 2020.  How WILL the radio landscape have changed ?

Having a Chinese ?

The World's Greatest Living Correspondent was still on the Pakistan side of the Afghanistan border for the 10 O'Clock News on BBC1 last night. He attempted one of the highest-tariff voice pieces - 20 years of global conflict in 1 minute and a half, without deviation, etc. He overran by a second, and came to his "It's the Chinese" conclusion rather abruptly. A version of the same script bejewelled this morning's radio bulletins, without apparent interference from output teams, who might have told him, it doesn't make much sense...

Meanwhile

Expecting anniversary fatigue in our news programmes this weekend. Hope some of our news broadcasters find time for a look at ventilators/excess death trends over the past three months, even if only by Monday. 

Call My Agent

It's not enormous numbers, but the most recent Top 15 of GB News shows is topped not by Farage, but by Sunday morning show The Political Correction (on which Farage now sometimes appears) with figures of 63,700. The constant hostess is Tory MP Dehenna Davison, member for Bishop Auckland since the December 2019 election. 

Dehenna has declared earnings of £369 per week from the show, which runs for two hours, and gets a one hour edited repeat. It's paid via her agent, Peters Fraser & Dunlop. They also represent Jacob Rees-Mogg; spookily, Dehenna spent a year working as a parliamentary aide for Rees-Mogg, while studying at Hull University. 

Significant movement

The World's Greatest Living Foreign Correspondent is on the move, in a spirit of just-in-time delivery to rank alongside Amazon Prime. Two hours ago, John Simpson tweeted photos of himself at the Torkham International Border Crossing, 228 kilometres from Kabul. For some reason, he wants to be there for the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Google estimates the journey in a car at four hours. We should have John live in a glorious technicolour sunset for either the Six or Ten, opining. Let's hope he has time to find something out. 

Lines of communication

From an article for the BBC commercial site Worklife back in 2019

"Real-time work chat app Slack has been hailed as both an “email killer” and a “life ruiner”. That’s because the app’s constant notifications enable an always-on work culture that is, frankly, exhausting. Even Slack itself knows how difficult it is to disconnect: the HQ encourages its own employees to log off after leaving the office. But anyone who belongs to a Slack channel knows that stepping back is easier said than done."

Toilers in the BBC's groovy Design & Engineering Division are therefore both surprised and anxious to find that their new Chief Product Officer, Storm Fagan has joined their Slack community...

Awaiting first par

I'll just leave this here, ready. 

Jess Brammar, 38 (St Katherine's School, Bristol and BA 1st Class International History with Russian LSE) does not come from an obvious journalistic background although her parents met when her mother was the secretary at BBC Radio Sheffield and her father the station’s football correspondent.

Her first ambition was nursing, but she found she needed double science A levels, which she hadn't got. She talks of  two “horrendous” years on a data entry job at Norwich Union before escaping to the London School of Economics. At the LSE she was features editor for the fortnightly student paper, The Beaver. 

She started in broadcasting as a researcher on Question Time, then patrolled the business and economics beat at ITN for nearly five years, before moving to Newsnight in 2014. She introduced a new policy at planning meetings - that there is no such thing as a stupid question, and rose to joint acting editor, post-Katz. Esme Wren got the permanent gig, and Jess moved to HuffPost UK in 2018. 

Land of opportunity

What's occurring at AMC Networks, joint owners of BBC America ? Longstanding CEO Josh Sapan, 70, has brought forward a planned move 'upstairs' and becomes vice-chairman this month. An older (71) industry hand Matt Blank has come out of retirement for a year's contract as interim CEO. 

Sapan's exit strategy seems to have been sweetened by an AMC commitment to buy six films from Sapan  in 2023/4, each costing $900,000. 

Are AMC's owners, the Dolan family, thinking of a sale ? Market capitalisation is $2bn. I hope the BBC is watching this carefully. BBC America deserves better brand custodians. (Star Trek variants all day today until 8pm, then two showings of a Tom Cruise film.)

Claim

"Britbox, the fastest growing subscription video-on-demand service in the US"

...from a current BBC job ad. 

News goes pop

It's cheaper to play records. 

The news squeeze at the BBC means an end to The Big Debate/Phone-in show, a fixture on The Asian Network since its emergence as a National DAB network in 2002.  The new longer 'news, music and entertainment' programme will also replace Asian Network Reports; the twice daily news programme was taken off air at the start of the pandemic and won't return. 

I'm sure the BBC has checked with Ofcom that this is ok - their Operating Licence for the station says "the BBC must ensure that in each week at least 24 hours are allocated to news and current affairs programming.

Notices

Senior Beeboids who are currently being restructured might like to note that former colleague James Purnell will soon be advertising for a new Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of College for the London College of Communication at the University of the Arts, London. 

Redistribution

More examples of the squeeze on BBC News - and the impact of the token distribution of some jobs around the UK. 

Ben Hunte, 29 (Highams Park and University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus B.Sc in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience) was the first to be titled "LBGT Correspondent" at BBC News, at the end of 2018. He's had a spell working in West Africa, but is now leaving to join Vice News. The BBC has decided that Leeds is the key place to base a new LGBT Correspondent. Ben lives in Walthamstow.

Sean Coughlan moves to the pool of News Correspondents, based in London; his role as Education and Family Correspondent will now go to someone willing to call Leeds home. 

Sian Lloyd has spent her time with News moving between Wales and Midlands correspondent, and has now decided to leave - so there's a job with a rationale waiting for someone in the Midlands. 

Arif Ansari, Head of News for the Asian Network, has skipped to the Executive Complaints Unit, rather than compete for a bigger job doing news for R1/R1Xtra and the Asian Network, based in Birmingham.

Boffin hunt

Those who worry that the BBC is more of a software house than a programme maker will be alarmed at another big recruitment drive. 

In June, Jaytin Athora emerged as Director of Research & Development. Now he's recruiting a Chief Technical Adviser, a Head of Technology Strategy and Governance, a Head of Applied Research - Automation, and a Portfolio Partner (also described as Partner Portfolio). 

No, I've no idea, either. Apparently "This Portfolio Partner will drive maturity in the process, planning and reporting of BBC R&D portfolio of activities". 

Present ?

A soft-ish social media launch for the BBC's latest money-making initiative - BBC Maestro. Its tag-line is "World-class video courses", sub-heading "Let the greatest be your teacher", sub-sub-heading "The best £80 I've ever spent".  Only available in the UK, you get life-time access to an average of 30-40 videos from your chosen Maestro, totalling around 3.5 hours, plus course notes as a pdf. The website majors on self-improvement, but also invites you to improve others, by buying them a course as a gift. 

So you can choose from Marco Pierre White - "Delicious food, cooked simply", Gary Barlow  - "Building a song from scratch", Julia Donaldson - "Writing children's picture books", Jed Mercurio - "Writing drama for television", Steve Man - "Dog training", Richard Bertinet - "Bread making", Pierre Koffmann - "Classic French bistro cooking, David Walliams - "Writing books for children". 

Here's one punted to 7.9m Twitter followers. 

Can't think of anyone better qualified to give business advice than this guy, so I highly recommend this course. Might even sign up myself! 👇👇 https://t.co/uWcCzhcBo8

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 7, 2021

It's an interesting business model, clearly aimed at a Christmas market, but there are overheads, including a Creative Lead, Chief Product Officer, an Education and Partnerships lead, a Partnerships Manager, a Senior Content Producer, a Social and Community Lead, a Rights Executive, a Rights Assistant, and, I'll bet, a few others. It also has external financial investment from Downing Ventures and Great Point Venture Capital.

Is the price point (more than half a licence fee) too high ?

 

Thanks a bunch

Fran Unsworth, a woman of brusque common sense, has opted for a life of much missed sociability and is stepping down as Director Of BBC News at the end of January.

There are, and will be, loads of 'thanks' in the formal tributes. Fran, in various roles, has stepped up to various sticky wickets at the behest of various captains, and only occasionally flailed widely outside off stump (cf not stopping Newsgathering from entering their helicopter shots of Sir Cliff Richard's flat for RTS Scoop of the Year). Yet privately she has described holding the top job as thankless.

The job has been made nigh impossible by the profligacy of James Harding's tenure. Fran's adopted solution to deliver the necessary cuts is barely understood by the people who dreamt it up. Valued colleagues have taken away valuable expertise alongside their redundancy dosh. In a Covid world where staff have demonstrated unexpected mastery of working at distance from any base, it seems daft to squeeze people out early because they won't "go" to Glasgow, Salford, Birmingham or Cardiff.

On top of this, we must layer Sir Nick Serota's impending report on reporting lines at the very top of News. 

In reality, there's only three months to choose a successor. The appointment of new executive editor of TV News channels has taken considerably longer, thanks to the helpful input of non-exec Sir Robbie Gibb. Staff will be unsurprisingly suspicious that the real interview panel for Fran's successor will include the knight alongside former Conservative council candidate Tim Davie and major Conservative donor Richard Sharp.

First out of the traps in response to the vacancy (good PR ?) is Jamie Angus, running the bits that Newsgathering hasn't yet acquired.

More to come....

And they're off - are they ?

With some bravery, Guardian media editor Jim Waterson has announced that BBC Director of News Fran Unsworth is expected to announce plans to retire soon. Let's hope he's right: Mr Waterson's partner, Jess Brammar, is awaiting news on a job that is in Fran's gift, and firmly opposed by BBC non-executive Sir Robbie Gibb. 

It's probably not a bad guess that someone aged 63, with the prospect of an inflation-proof pension, might be considering their options. The problem is not hers; it's the succession. Kamal Ahmed, supported by James Purnell, was being groomed. James Purnell left in November 2020, Kamal in February 2021.  Jonathan Munro, from ITN, was brought in by James Harding in 2014; he is known internally for maundering monthly emails to his team, where everything in the garden is beyond rosy. His dabs are on the Martin Bashir appointment as Religion Editor. 

Fran's various board roles help Tim Davie with gender balance, but there isn't an obvious internal female successor. More to come, as they say....

Chairman of the Board

Ian Haythornthwaite, most recently Chief Financial and Operating Officer for the BBC Nations and Regions, (on £240k+) has resurfaced as chair of  The Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust. 

The Countess will also benefit from the fact he has more than 10 years of experience on trust boards; he's found time to be a non-executive director of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and chair of their audit committee since 2018. He was previously a non-executive director of the Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust. 

One presumes that he was entitled to a redundancy package, with the all new BBC Nations division (Not Nations & Regions - no, completely different) advertising for a new Finance Director in May. 

79 days

The Times has used the Freedom of Information Act to discover that the BBC has upheld or partially upheld 33 of 154 bullying and harassment cases over the past two years - but only one person has lost their job. A further 105 grievances were dismissed, while 16 were withdrawn. The figures do not include cases in BBC Studios. 

After the "Respect at Work" review, the BBC said it would settle grievances in 30 days, before acknowledging that complex cases could take 60 days. Since that time the average works out at 79 days. 

All shook up

Helen Jay is leaving Channel 4 where she's Head of Policy and Corporate Affairs - right in the middle of the latest privatisation threat from the DCMS. 

Helen's been at C4 there since joining from PACT in 2008 at the age of 26. She describes her decision as ' frankly heart wrenching' 

'There's never a good time to leave - and now is undoubtedly a very bad one. But new adventures call - ultimately, there are other things I want to do.'  Helen's role this year switched its reporting line to new director of strategy and consumer insight, Khalid Hayat.

In January Channel 4 director of communications and corporate affairs James MacLeod previewed his departure, with the role now reporting to chief marketing officer Zaid Al-Qassab. 

Take it easy

Perhaps those responsible for managing the assets of the BBC Pension Scheme should share their tips more widely.  Investments over the year have risen in value by £1.7bn, to £19bn. The annual report says "the scheme can now afford to take less investment risk and still meet its objectives. "

Licence fee payers have also contributed to the better position; the BBC as an employer chose to dob in a total of £95.4m under the 'deficit recovery plan', which included £47m paid a year earlier than previously scheduled.  

Here's the list of the top 20 shares in the scheme over the year.  Clearly, we're all cool about Netflix.

Filling behind

The steady depletion of the TalkRADIO roster of presenters by GB News has left a gap for the return of Jeremy Kyle. He's to be their new drivetime presenter, Monday to Thursday, from 13th September. 

Kyle has previously worked for TalkSPORT, in 2008, and hosted a weekend show on TalkRADIO 

Kyle, 56 (Reading Blue Coat School, BA History and Sociology, Surrey) spend seven years selling insurance, before joining Orchard FM in Somerset. In 1997 he joined BRMB in Birmingham, presenting Late & Live and Jezza’s Jukebox. He made headlines with the competition Two Strangers and a Wedding, won by former model Carla Germaine, who married sales manager Steve to secure the top prize. After their divorce, she married Jeremy. After their divorce, Jeremy married their nanny. 

Infuriating

Dame Jenni Murray, never previously known as a shrinking violet, thinks either she was underpaid at Woman's Hour, or her replacement, Emma Barnet is overpaid. 

She tells Stella magazine, part of the Sunday Telegraph "Well that really pisses me off.  I was talking to an old colleague the other night and she was saying how horrified she is at what’s being paid now. We worked so hard and had high profiles, but we didn’t earn anything like [that]. It’s more than irritating. It’s infuriating actually. I don’t think, no matter how good they are, they are worth all that money. It’s a public broadcasting service. I’ll be hacked off when I still have to pay my licence in four years."

Dame Jenni has said she was paid just over £100,000 for Radio 4's Woman's Hour; Emma Barnett's total package for the last year was £240,000+. The Mail on Sunday has sought an explanation from the BBC: "Emma's salary for 2020/21 covers her 4 days a week hosting Woman's Hour, as well as Newsnight, her former 5 Live show [three hours, four days a week] and other BBC work. Jenni hosted Woman's Hour [a full 45 minutes in Jenni's day] 2.5 days a week pro rata'. 

Fazed

Carol Midgley in The Times gave the latest edition of Imagine a four (out of five) star review. 

There were various interesting insights in Imagine: Bernardine Evaristo — Never Give Up, not least that the presenter Alan Yentob seems to have led a sheltered life. When he and Evaristo discussed that a character from her Booker prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other has an affair with her daughter’s husband, Evaristo explained she was drawing on decades of experience of “what goes on” in people’s lives. Yentob looked aghast. “THAT goes on?” he demanded, his face a picture of pure misery, “Sleeping with your mother-in-law?”

Evaristo looked equally aghast at his tender innocence. “Oh, come on, Alan, of course it does,” she said, adding that he obviously doesn’t read certain supermarket women’s magazines. Or watch The Jeremy Kyle Show, come to that. Amusing.

Bulk buying

In yet another dissipation of content, BBC Studios has licenced a whole load of back catalogue to Tubi, a free streaming service in the USA. Tubi makes its money by showing ads between and within content, and when you switch between its myriad lines - you don't even have to register. Tubi was bought by Fox in March 2020. It claims to give access to 20,000 movies and tv shows.

Initially, Tubi's BBC deal includes “Crime and Punishment,” “The Fixer,” “The Guilty,” “In the Flesh,”  “Jack The Ripper: Prime Suspect,” “The Interceptor,” “The Lost Prince,” “Misfits,” “Monarch of the Glen,” “The Musketeers,” “Primeval,” “Robin Hood,” “The Fades,” and “Sarah & Duck". Later, Tubi viewers will get 'select' editions of The Antiques Roadshow. 

Revolving

Comings and goings continue at GB News: Isabel Euphemia Oakeshott will present once a week 'soon', hosting the Friday edition of The Briefing. 

Andrew Neil will not now reappear on Monday 6th September; and Michelle Dewberry says she (like Andrew ?) is only taking a holiday.

Rumours swirling re my @GBNEWS show as programme guides show the removal of my show next week…

Sorry to disappoint the mischief makers, but I’m just taking a couple of weeks annual leave & being covered by Alex.

Northerners get holidays too 😜

As you were.

See you @ 6pm 👍🏻

— Michelle Dewberry (@MichelleDewbs) September 3, 2021

Tutorial

It's fun watching a tutor baiting a tutee. Roger Mosey, now Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, was Kevin Bakhurst's boss at the BBC - Roger as Head of Television News, Kevin editing the Ten O'Clock News. Kevin is now Director of Content at Ofcom and will have signed off the Piers Morgan/GMB 'judgement'.  Roger thinks Kevin is wrong and has written to The Times; Kevin probably can't afford to leave this correspondence unanswered. 

Sir, I am unequivocally in favour of free speech. I also believe that there should be a greater diversity of views in broadcast news. However, I am concerned by Ofcom’s ruling that Piers Morgan as the presenter of a news-based programme on a public service channel can give his unfettered opinions on the issues of the day (report, Sep 2). If Morgan was right to say what he did about the Duchess of Sussex, what was wrong with Emily Maitlis’s more tempered comments about Dominic Cummings? At the time, Ofcom said “[news] presenters should ensure that they do not inadvertently give the impression of setting out personal opinions or views” — and that is surely right. We do not want to hear what Huw Edwards or Julie Etchingham think of the day’s events, and nor should a news breakfast show on a major channel be dominated by the opinions of its presenters. That route leads us to the aggressive polarisation of the media seen in the United States, when the public need in these times is for accurate reporting and cool analysis.

Roger Mosey

Former head of BBC Television News; Master, Selwyn College, Cambridge

Mash up

It's a year since Tim Davie formally started work as BBC DG.  The Mash Report had ended its fourth series in May 2020. It had enemies: Andrew Neil, at the time a BBC Politics presenter, said in 2018, it was "self-satisfied, self-adulatory, unchallenged left-wing propaganda. It's hardly balance. Could never happen on a politics show. Except this has become a politics show."

It took until March this year for the BBC to formally announce it had been cancelled "to make room for new comedy shows".  

In July, UKTV, wholly owned by BBC Studios, announced a new eight part series, Late Night Mash, had been commissioned, for its comedy channel, Dave. BBC Studios has been run by an interim CEO since Tim Davie's promotion. 

One gag line from last night's opening show: “We will work with you as long as you improve your attitude to women, democracy and the rule of law. The Taliban tell Boris Johnson" 

Personnel matters

Two new signings for GB News: Mark White, who until August 20th was on the home affairs beat for Sky News, and self-defined 'news personality' Josh Rom, who becomes an entertainment reporter/producer, after four years freelancing.

Meanwhile friends of presenter Michelle Dewberry are concerned that there's no mention of her current programme, Dewbs & Co, in the GB News schedules from Monday. 

Dynamism

You can't really imagine a foreign correspondent of standing, coming straight from some exclusive frontline filming in one of the world's terrorist hotspots, leaping from their armoured vehicle, khaki shirt dripping under layers of kevlar, bursting through the door of the smelly rented shed that passes for the BBC 'bureau', and shouting "Get me London, I need to speak to the Executive News Editor for the World Story Team". 

Paul Danahar has been selected for that London job, and you'll notice in his celebratory tweet, he gives it a shorter title. 

Some personal news: after 25 years on the road in Asia, Africa, the Mid East & USA, I’m off to the UK next year to be the BBC’s new Foreign Editor. It’s one of the best jobs in international news, working with a top team of BBC journalists at home & abroad. So, I’m chuffed!🙂

— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) September 1, 2021

Morning Rick

Rick Edwards is to replace Nicky Campbell as the co-host of Radio 5 Live Breakfast, alongside Rachel Burden. 

Rick, 42, was born in Enfield, then went to Portsmouth Grammar for his A-levels, before taking a place to study maths at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He later switched to natural sciences. He started doing standup - and auditioned for presenting pop on T4, but missed out to Vernon Kay. 

He wrote a stand-up double act with Joe Wilkinson, Him and Her, seen on the London circuit: “We kind of played ourselves in that I was a kind of thrusting, entirely egocentric narcissist who’d written about 67 episodes of a sitcom entirely for himself, and Joe played my mother’s cleaner’s son, who was there merely to showcase the other parts. It was awful, but fucking funny”. 

He tried modelling, tutoring Ruby Wax's kids, and doing warm up for her children's show, then, at her suggestion, joined Princess Productions. Finally, he got a gig on E4. 

He was part of the Pembroke Alumni team in Christmas University Challenge, 2018; they lost 85-150 to Kings College London. 

Teamwork saves Piers

Piers Morgan doesn't believe Meghan Markle was really suicidal as a result of her treatment within the Royal Household, and said so repeatedly on GMB back in March. 50,000 complaints, however, weighed little with the Content team at Ofcom. Mr Morgan's rant was okay because of other remarks in the programme by Susanna Reid and ITV Royal correspondent, Chris Ship. 

".... Had it not been for the extensive challenge offered throughout the Programme by Ms Reid and Mr Ship, we would have been seriously concerned. However, given the significant challenge to Mr Morgan’s comments provided by other presenters and contributors in the Programme, we considered that, overall, adequate protection for viewers was provided and the potentially harmful and highly offensive material was sufficiently contextualised. "

Piers was also under investigation from Ofcom for potential racism, cf this sort of remark "Can I put to you just a scenario that may have happened, and I wonder whether you find this, you would automatically think this is offensive and racist ? If you have two parents, one’s White and one’s

Black, as in Meghan’s case, and she’s pregnant and going to have a baby, is it racist and offensive for a family member to say ‘Oh, what colour might the baby be?’  I mean, I would imagine in most families that might be a question they think and they might ask, but not, but not in a racist or derogatory manner. Now tell me, tell me if I’m wrong”.

  

Ofcom said those who complained on this front were also wrong:  "While we acknowledged that Mr Morgan’s questions about the nature of racism had the potential to be highly offensive to some viewers, the conversations about race and racism in this Programme provided open debate on the issues raised by the Interview. We also considered that the Programme allowed for an important discussion to be had on the nature and impact of racism. ITV had clearly anticipated that racial issues would be discussed at length as part of the coverage of the Interview and had taken steps to ensure context could be provided during the discussions. Despite strong opinions expressed during the Programme, in Ofcom’s view any potential offence was justified by the context and the comments and discussions about race and racism were not in breach of Rule 2.3 of the Code. "

No entry

Interesting days ahead for those toiling at BBC Scotland's HQ on Pacific Quay, Glasgow. The police seem to have put the front door inside the exclusion zone for the Climate Change Conference.