Hunting accident

The BBC spokesman who talked to Guardian Media Editor Jim Waterson about the recruitment of a new executive editor to run Newsbeat and news for the Asian Network in Birmingham seems to have confirmed more than they denied. It's clear they went hunting for external candidates like Marcus Ryder and Aaqil Ahmed - then changed their minds late in the day.

"We’d never comment on who did or didn’t apply for a job. After an external search, BBC News decided that as this role was bringing together departments from across the country, we were looking for an internal candidate with an existing understanding of the BBC, so did not take forward any external candidates for this particular post.

“After a separate recruitment process, we appointed an internal candidate on a year’s secondment. This was a BBC News decision. It is wrong to suggest any veto was exercised on any candidate.”