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...