Thursday, October 31, 2024

Budget bits

Some budget commendations: Ed Conway at Sky News for quickly getting to the graph that showed year-by-year how much more UK (Labour) Ltd is borrowing; Julian Worricker for an exemplary round-up discussion on Radio 4's World Tonight. No-one's quite got to the churning reaction in shares, gilts and the value of sterling, as younger traders dealers peruse the views of the pundits in papers like the Mail and Telegraph. 

I'm generally against asking questions to which there are no answers, but it's worth identifying some very big and difficult loose ends left for Phase 2 of the spending review:  "The Spending Review (SR) now moves to Phase 2, which will conclude in late spring 2025. Phase 2 will take a mission-led, reform-driven, technology-enabled approach to funding public services while investing in long-term growth."

This bit needs to set five year plans. Will it be defence by drones ?  Will we stop building hospitals and build 'neighbourhood health centres' instead ?  What are we going to do about taxing petrol and diesel v electricity in the race to lower emissions ? Surely freezing fuel duty is not a long-term answer. If new roads are largely off the agenda, what do we do best with money raised from Vehicle Excise Duty ? How will we solve the lack of prison places with a Home Office budget cut ?  What on earth are we going to do about social care ?

On the other hand....

 BBC News is big on questions, and short on answers. 

Verify had a pop at this, again. "Is there a £22bn ‘black hole’ in the UK’s public finances?". Anthony Reuben comes to no real conclusion. 

In the feature "Will mortgage rates fall? Your Budget questions answered", Kevin Peachey opens honestly. "Of course, we don’t know the answer to this for sure..."

We go on: "Will NI payments by businesses impact their hiring power and possibly backfire on staff?" Kevin is still frank:  "This is clearly one of the main points of debate in this Budget"


Blade runner

 Once again, old stuff surfaces in the BBC News online 'most watched' section, 10am GMT





Item No 4, inexplicably, is from 12th December 2023; 42 seconds of a giant wind turbine blade being transported through Hawick. 



Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Soft power funding

There's more taxpayer money heading to the World Service in the next financial year. The Budget document says " In 2025-26, the settlement [to the Foreign Office] provides an increase in funding to the BBC World Service, protecting existing foreign language service provision and its mission to deliver globally trusted media, in support of the UK’s global presence and soft power". 

No clue yet as to the exact figure. The resource budget for the FCO is set to increase in real terms by 0.6%, to £8.3bn.

Meeting one's Waterloo

I'm never sure what the question is when the answer is Jason Manford. Is it possible that he's on some sort of portfolio contract with the BBC ?  His run as Steve Savage, the headmaster at Waterloo Road Academy, has lasted eight episodes. Episode 1 of Series 14, in the new Tuesday slot of 9pm on BBC1, was watched by 930k in the overnights, up against England v Finland. Ms Charlotte Moore prefers seven-day ratings - there's no sign of Waterloo Road breaking into the Top 50 weekly tv shows on that measure, despite all eight episodes being released as a boxset from the start. 

The BBC and the show's producers are keen for us to know that this is a wealth-generator, if not an audience-grabber, claiming the first three series produced in Manchester have generated "at least £6.5 million in gross value added (GVA) for Greater Manchester and over £9.5 million for the broader North West area, measure based on spend on crew and suppliers in the region."

Says Ms Moore: "Waterloo Road is a brilliant example of the BBC’s commitment to back the best homegrown storytelling right across the UK. It’s a series that helps nurture and champion local talent and directly supports the economy in the North West."

Says Jessica Schibli, BBC Head of Creative Diversity "Waterloo Road is a lesson in reaching and representing underserved audiences". 

Lindsey Coulson is the new head for series 15, coming in the New Year. She's familiar to Eastenders audiences, having played Carol Jackson in 913 episodes over 1993–1997, 1999, and 2010–2015.

Monday, October 28, 2024

Nudging Naja

There's a vacancy for a new Director General at DR, the Danish public broadcasting service, with current postholder Rørbye Rønn announcing last week that she's stepping down after 15 years in the post. 

Former director general of DR Kenneth Plummer offers Naja Nielsen, currently Digital Director BBC News, as his top tip. Google translation: "She has quite a big job. Over the past five years, she has gained very heavy management experience from the mother of all public service companies, the BBC'

Media studies expert Timme Bisgaard Munk agrees: "DR is created in the BBC's image and the fact that she has carried out a digital transformation in the big brother, BBC, which is to happen in the little brother nest, DR, is a huge trump card"

Movie news

From "A BBC for the Future", March 2024

The challenge to our creative economy

We live in a time when culture and creativity cross national borders frictionlessly. There are huge advantages for consumers as global media and technology firms give people access to the world’s best entertainment. However, it also means there can be more on our screens about city police precincts in the US than our own, and more storytelling about high school America than secondary school Britain.

Films added to the BBC iPlayer for Hallowe-en: The Blair Witch Project, 1999, set in Maryland; Get Out, 2017, set in Alabama; US, 2019, set in California; Candyman, 2021, set in Chicago.

Experiences

 I've struggled with the growth of 'product' jobs at the BBC; in my youth it derived from the Latin, 'something produced', and was lightly abused by maths teachers, who used it as a synonym for 'the answer' in sums. 

As jobs making 'news' and 'content' are cut, the BBC now seeks a new Tweedledum and Tweedledee in 'Product'; a Director, Product Management - Platform and a Director, Product Management of Experiences. 

For job one "We need an established senior, enterprise product leader experienced in delivering transformational product strategies. They will be responsible for accelerating our transition to a platform-first product organisation, unlocking our teams’ potential to discover, innovate and deliver at scale best-in-class platform capabilities. "

For job two "We need an established senior, enterprise product leader experienced in delivering transformational product strategies. They will be responsible for driving user growth through BBC digital products, unlocking our teams’ potential to discover, innovate and bring to market best in class user-centred digital experiences." 

Clear ? Maybe the Board-level enterprise product leader, Chief Product Officer, Storm Fagan and Director of Product and Design, Monica Turska, can explain...


Sunday, October 27, 2024

Winners

Some headlines from the BBC News Online team today curating the 'winning of the weekend'... 

'I married the train driver who saved my life'

A puff on a joint - then six months of forced rehab in a concrete cell

How my investigation led to sex trafficking charges against ex-Abercrombie boss

And a searing insight.....

Bowen: Iran faces hard choices between risks of escalation or looking weak

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Hard choices

Dear Naja and Deborah, 

Surely some of the effort involved in preparing this 'winning the weekend' chaff could be switched, say, to series of thoughtful, half-hour interviews with people in the news around the world ?



Friday, October 25, 2024

Sniff test

There's some odd stuff going on in BBC Nations & Regions journalism, and the drive to online. From BBC South today comes a detailed story about a row between an overseas student at Queens College seeking a D Phil from Oxford University, and failing an assessment in her fourth year of study, 2021. Many news editors, perhaps even those working on the Times Higher Education website, might deem it unremarkable, and not particularly newsworthy. 

The title of her doctorate thesis: Tenders of Affection: The Economy of Emotions in Shakespeare. She had support from her college in a challenge in 2022, but there's no real 'news' in her story. The University say their dispute procedure is exhausted; an appeal to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator also failed. The student has set up a GoFundMe page, alleging 'breach of contract', academic bullying, plagiarism and racism. She shares a letter of appeal to King Charles, and complains she has spent a total of £100k on her education, without reaching doctorate status. She got coverage in the Times of India a month ago, and there's a long interview with ANI on Youtube. 

If this is Digital Local, you can leave me out...

Ooops

It turns out that the latest re-shuffle of presenters at Radio 5Live is a bit of a 'domestic'. 

Drive host Tony Livesey, 60, (Fishermore High School, Colne and editor of the Daily Sport) appears to have done a Kuenssberg, and sent an email in some way critical of co-presenter Clare McDonnell, 57 (St Mary's Bishop Stortford, BA Humanistic Studies, Nottingham, Knight Ayton Management) to its subject by mistake. 

Tony has previously co-presented, without apparent hoo-ha, with Rachel Burden, Shelagh Fogarty, Anna Foster, Eleanor Oldroyd and more. He was first paired with Clare for the odd weekend Breakfast in 2013; Tony moved to Drive in 2015, and Clare became his main partner in 2022.


Radio Times 2022






Tony has been sent back to late night weekdays, whence he came. You could read a little tension into this, from over a year ago.... 


Thursday, October 24, 2024

Let's talk

The quarterly listening figures running up to September 15th bring mostly joy to all, as more people listened to radio than ever before - reaching a record 50.9m over the three months. 

Radio 5 Live had the pleasure of breaking 6.0m in weekly reach, boosted by the election, the Olympics, Wimbledon, the end of the Euros and the start of the Premier League. It's the station's highest reach since Q2 2014. 

At Radio 4, Today, drifting towards a Waitrose version of the established Radio 5Live Asda sound, added 300,000 year on year, and the station was up to 9.7m. 

Meanwhile LBC has added 476,000 listeners in the past year, reaching 3.4m  TalkSPORT put on 200k, to reach 3.2m. 

In the newcomers' fight for ears, Talk Radio was down down 16% to 576,000. Times Radio was up 16% to 557,000. Both will be frustrated by the growth of tv-soundtrack, GB News Radio, up to 611,000 – its highest figure so far. 

BBC Local Radio in England has lost 720k listeners year on year, falling from 5.3m to 4.6m. Radio Scotland is down 6% year on year, Radio Wales is up 11%, Radio Cymru is up 15%, Radio Ulster is down 7.4%. The Asian Network, about to lose a bespoke news service, is up 32%. 

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Monsters of Radio

Regular readers will know this is a blog of surmise. I have no proof of an uprising by the 'talent' on Radio 4's Today programme, but it's a reasonable explanation for the tinkering with the ancient format round the Greenwich Time Signal pips in recents days.  

The ability to 'talk to time' and not blunder through the pips used to be a badge of pride for presenters. The format of recent years goes, roughly, cue the weather at 3 minutes to the hour;  run a pre-recorded trail for a programme other than Today; then one presenter runs through a list of items to come later on the show, self-editing to around ten seconds to the hour. That leaves enough space for "You're listening to Today on Radio Four, with X and Y"  before the five short and one long bursts of tone that alert you to the start of the new hour. 

If, of course, you can hear them. Jovial 'Uncle' Nick Robinson has never really qualified for the badge of honour; languid Justin 'And that's the point' Webb gabbles his way out of trouble; only Mishal Husain, cool, calm and collected, has strategies for editing the format to come out clean. 

Now Emma Barnett has arrived, bringing her special brand of Mancunian bonhomie to the microphone. "It's a pleasure to have your company" she trills. This has bolstered the confidence of the shy new boy, Amol Rajan. I can imagine a visit to Editor Owenna's workspace. 

"Look, love, why don't we just move the programme trails to the other side of the pips, then we can always fit them all in ?" says Emma. "I've been thinking that for a while" says Amol, looking down at his Louis Vuitton loungers. "Well", says Owenna "It's a tradition, and the way we do it has become a sort of  signature tune. Most listeners are there for only twenty minutes or so before setting off for work or school or whatever. Some get irritated by long trails for things they'll never hear...". "Oh come on, Owenna, let's irritate them, then.."

So the format changes. But this morning an Emma Barnett interview ran to 06.59, leaving weatherman Simon King less than a minute for his forecast; he finished right in the pips. "It's seven o'clock, as you can hear" came the effortlessly ad-libbing Emma. "Good to be with you, and good to have your company". 


Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Beat it

Deborah does tend of big things up. According the BBC News media release about US Election Night coverage, she said “An unbeatable team of BBC News presenters in Washington DC will be guiding us through the results night". 

The author of the release is thinking 'invincible', too. "The BBC’s unbeatable team of US correspondents will be with voters across the country in key battleground states – Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada."   That's seven US correspondents in the field, all better than anyone else's. No pressure, then. 

Inconsistent

Follow through is sometimes required to keep news audiences informed. The Six on BBC1 last night decided to do without a piece from the Middle East; the Six on Radio 4 had two. After a weekend preview of the Moldovan elections on BBC1's late Sunday bulletin, the result was merely a 'read' on Monday's Ten. 

Defining moment

As divisions rolled out their redundancy lists for 2025, BBC Chief People Officer Uzair Qadeer headed to Reykjavik to close the annual conference of the Icelandic Association of Human Resources, with his talk "Redefining the Future World of Work".

Monday, October 21, 2024

Ta

BBC COO Leigh Tavaziva made it to Athens for a conference session on "Bringing the Adaptable Enterprise to Life".  Leigh is second right. The event was organised by Tata Consultancy Services.  They have a contract to run BBC finance accounting and payroll services through to 2034. 



Pluggers

 How BBC News Online works. Top seven stories at 0930am. 



Sunday, October 20, 2024

Different

Good to see a piece last night on the BBC Weekend News Lite late bulletin on the Moldovan elections, from Sarah Rainsford. There's a News Online piece, too. It's the sort of thing that makes BBC News looks distinctive. 

Sarah was expelled from Moscow in August 2021. She'd been reporting and producing for the BBC in Russia since 2000, and then in 2020, the visas started getting shorter and shorter. Finally, coming back to Moscow from a trip to Belarus, she was told she was being refused entry to the Russian Federation 'for the protection of the security of Russia'. 

Sarah is now based in Warsaw. The BBC's Warsaw bureau is on the list for closure by the Turness administration.  


Saturday, October 19, 2024

Deals




ITN is to review its use of non-disclosure agreements, following a report by lawyers Simmons and Simmons. They were hired after allegations that managers used legal contracts to cover up gender pay discrimination, harassment and bullying.

Simmons (and Simmons) talked to 45 current and former ITN staff and freelancers about their experiences from 2018 to 2024.

Deborah Turness was CEO of ITN from April 2021 to August 2022.

Friday, October 18, 2024

Run from New York

BBC Studios has announced the formation of a new Global Content Sales function which will be led by Janet Brown, based in New York.

As President of Global Content Sales, Brown "will oversee content sales across all regions, centralizing global operations and content investment. Brown will continue reporting to Rebecca Glashow, CEO of BBC Global Media & Streaming." (also based in New York)

Janet went to Bishop Strachan School in Toronto, and McGill University in Montreal.

As a sop to the UK, Janet will have a VP in Li
London.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Meanwhile

Meanwhile, I woke this morning to find "Harris started 'like a rocket' in Michigan. Now she's slipping", a long think piece by Madeline Halpert in the top ten stories on BBC News online. The headline seemed very certain, given the BBC's normally tentative attitude to polling, so I looked further. "A Quinnipiac poll last week indicated Donald Trump is leading in the swing state by three points", said Madeline.  The Quinnepiac University poll covered 1,007 likely voters in Michigan between October 3rd and 7th.  I have today's date as 16th.

I looked elsewhere. I found "Democrats on edge in critical Michigan amid fears of waning enthusiasm", from the Guardian on Sunday. I looked for a Michigan poll of polls and found this (click to go large)



 



Turnessing 4

They used to be just 'reporters and correspondents'; then they became Newsgathering, supplying news coverage requested by bulletins and programmes; currently they are News Content, deciding what to cover and how, with programmes and bulletins informed of their choices. 

This Soviet style of news production at the BBC, where everything is brilliant and a huge success, makes cuts difficult to make, and impossible to understand. It also requires back-tracking on previous commitments. 

So there will be no Royal Editor in the future; the role of the Rural Affairs Correspondent becomes part of the duties of the South West of England Correspondent; the News Content investigations team, in theory filling behind Newsnight's cuts, is itself cut from 4 posts to 1; the role of LGBT correspondent ends; the Young Reporter scheme, as promoted by Huw Edwards, stops; specialisms are re-clustered, with 'Society' (UK, Legal, Religion, Housing) joining 'Culture' (a right old rag-bag). 

And on the ordering news sausages front, the Content Production Hub becomes Planning & Impact, and On The Day becomes one operation, subsuming "Live", "Content", "Home" and "Foreign". I hope you're paying attention. Most people currently working have to apply for what look like small variations to their existing jobs. No fun, in the run-up to Christmas.   

Turnessing 3

Mmm. The BBC Board committee that used to monitor "Fair Trading" is no more, subsumed into Audit and Risk.

From next year, journalists paid for by the World Service will provide most of the overnight network news bulletins on BBC radio.  Tim Davie wants the Government to fund the whole of the World Service. I suspect commercial radio companies may make mischief with this. 

Meanwhile, to save paying for other staff doing night shifts at Broadcasting House, Radio 4 loses 'News Briefing'.  The online site will be kept going by hiring journalists in Sydney, presumably with special expertise in dash-cam footage, and video clips of animals doing funny things. 



Turnessing 2

Cutting a small team doing a news service for the BBC Asian Network is short-term thinking in terms of diversity and inclusion; making young Asians take a news service from Radio 1's Newsbeat team is probably the least worst second choice, but will do nothing in terms of serving a 'hard to reach' audience. 

Hear this from Sej, now an established documentary producer, who joined 5Live on the admin team, and blossomed producing stars of the future on the Asian Network. 


Imagine how this young journalist feels today, having joined the Asian Network three months ago, following a development course called  BBC Future Voices World Service.



Turnessing 1

The Turness Administration at BBC News is in dire need of an intellectual consigliere. The latest round of cuts is maladroit, to say the least, making savings in the style of a small grocery chain dropping some stock lines and leaving some aisles empty.  Classy it ain't. 

HARDtalk, the half hour interview show that started with News 24 in 1997, is to go. It was sort of a British response to Larry King Live on CNN, designed to give a 24-hour news channel some heft, and something to pad out news-light late evenings and weekends. Over the years, with main presenters Tim Sebastian, Zeinab Badawi, Stephen Sackur, Sara Montague and Mishal Husain, it has found an eclectic range of guests. Not all have been frontline newsmakers - indeed, over the years, there have been fewer and fewer "big names", and more thinkers and commentators across the arts, global and regional politics.  

It would not be surprising if those driving the BBC News assault on US audiences wanted something different. The guest list majors on the UK, Europe, Africa and Asia; there is no obvious half-way house for adverts; the lead presenter is not blonde in the feminine sense. It's certainly something that makes BBC News look different to the other news channels in the United States, but then, as I have written before, the BBC in New York is selling its editorial brand down the river, paddling desperately towards an uncertain financial return. 

Against a background of high-minded stuff from Tim Davie, Keeper of the Candle of Journalism from the Dangerous Winds Blowing from Russia and China, the timing is grim. More posts follow.... 

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Confused ?

I'm not sure who does Tim Davie's grid, but in the week of another big shove of the begging bowl in the faces of The Treasury, FCO and DCMS, BBC News is telling domestic staff who won't be needed beyond March 2025. 

Tim thinks the taxpayer in general should fund World Service, to protect and even develop its journalism in areas where the Russians and Chinese are taking the lead. However, in domestic journalism, the licence fee payer can make do without local radio in the afternoons and weekends, without a Newsnight that reports as well as debates, and with a news website rich in "Well I never, some dashcam stuff..." and One Show clips. And then there's BBC Studios, funding US journalists in the USA..... Think it through, Tim. 

Dippy

Quite a dip for BBC News in the monthly figures from BARB - the channel reached 8.5m over September, compared with 10.9m in August, and down on 8.9m last September.  Sky News was down to 7.1m, from 8.7m in August and unchanged from 7.1m a year ago

GB News reached 3.2m over the month, down from 3.77m in August, and compared with 2.8m a year ago.   

Monday, October 14, 2024

To the printers

There'll be a number of BBC staff looking to change their calling cards, after the revelation that DG Tim Davie has decided to ban the use of the word 'talent'. 

Speaking to Nick Robinson on Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Tim opined “We often refer to people like yourself as ‘talent’ but I’ve kind of banned that. You’re a presenter, I’m a leader of an organization, and we’re here to serve.”

A little prowl round existing job titles reveals: 

Head of Talent Acquisition - News
Director of Talent and Skills, BBC Commissioning
Football Talent Lead
Global Head of Talent Acquisition, Talent & D&I
Senior Talent Acquisition Business Partner - Executive Search 
Senior International Talent Acquisition Advisor

And then there are whole departments: "TalentWorks is a content label within @bbcstudios aimed at identifying forward thinking talent with whom it can partner."

New fees ?

Former BBC acting chair Dame Elan Closs Stephens delivered a speech to a Prix Italia audience in Turin last week.  She's presumably reasonably in touch with BBC thinking, and this part of her talk suggests maybe it's time to raise some funds for public service broadcasting from those who profit from broadband infrastructure... 

Public service broadcasters pay a heavy price for universality - for the ability to talk to all wherever they are. That price is the necessity to ride two horses – to transmit on terrestrial transmitters in order to reach everyone and to distribute on digital platforms. Some of those digital platforms are not open to everyone either through cost or through problems of the infrastructure. But our old-fashioned transmitters reach out to society as a whole. And they are an expense.

Streamers have no such obligations. They are free to provide a digital only service. And that digital only service is an entertainment library without the heavy cost of live breaking news - a very costly undertaking born by public service broadcasters in the UK. Surely the time has come for some of the cost of our terrestrial infrastructure and even the costs of our broadband infrastructure to be shared industry wide. Let me expand. National broadcasters have always contributed to the cost of national infrastructure from terrestrial radio transmitters to digital multiplexes. The UK Government has paid substantial sums to try to reach the last 5% of digital broadband exclusion. Yet, as far as I am aware, there is no levy towards the national infrastructure from those who profit from it the most. Governments in the UK and Europe have to re-assess the ideas of a completely free market – a free market that is weighted heavily in one direction. It’s time to understand the value of our national broadcasters and to provide a level field of competition.

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Exclusive

The BBC has got into a habit of keeping some of its biggest audience podcasts locked into BBC Sounds for weeks, before making them available to other platforms. The obvious ambition is to drive more people into downloading the BBC Sounds app; the figure of weekly users seems to be a Big KPI on Mr Davie's dashboard. 

Does it make sense as a long-term strategy ? Former Beeboid James Cridland patrols the global public service horizon in this post, and says, firmly, No.

I've been fumbling for some sort of analogy here. If the parallel were to be magazines, could you imagine BBC Publishing trying to set up a chain of dedicated high street shops, selling only BBC magazines, and making them available via WHSmith, Menzies and independent newsagents a month later ? 

If you're not always on the big platforms, don't you have to work much much harder at discoverability ? Well, not if you're Auntie, where peaktime advertising is free. Yet the BBC is also keen on making money from the pre-roll ads that come on other platforms.  This enormous anomaly ought to come to light in any serious review of the BBC's scope and funding. Remember, at the moment, you don't need a licence fee to listen to BBC Radio or BBC Sounds. 

The BBC has yet to align and articulate its Great Podcast Surge with underlying mission statements and values more detailed than 'reaching more people'.  The BBC's other big driver is 'reaching underserved audiences'. Ofcom's podcast survey of 2024 shows 32% of regular podcast listeners are ABC1, compared with 17% C2DE, suggesting the BBC is once again 'super-serving' an existing audience.


Saturday, October 12, 2024

All change

No 'inquiry' type lawyer to lead the BBC's latest workplace culture review - instead they've lighted on a change consultant, presumably in the hope of embedding some real change that clearly didn't follow the Dame Janet Smith post-Savile Review, published in 2016. Hang on a moment - there was also the Respect At Work Review of 2013, er, with research and recommendations from Change Associates, who have been, er, appointed to lead this latest piece of chin-stroking.  

The man in charge at Change Associates is Grahame Russell, 61, who formed the company in 2010. The company website cites with Respect At Work Review with pride: "His work on the BBC's Respect at Work Review following the Savile scandal attracted positive comments from staff, unions, and the independent chair. Grahame believes in the benefits of leveraging the talents of freelance consultants and then harnessing the value of a truly connected team."

The Change Associates 2013 report is stark, e.g. "We heard from a number of people about how they fear being the one that gets picked on (and in some cases targeted) today. During interviews multiple members of staff in different parts of the BBC reported being bullied by a ‘known bully’ . These individuals create a climate of anxiety and participants described how they live in fear that it will be their turn to be verbally abused today. People used very emotive language to describe how over time this affects their ability to do their job, as they actively avoid discussion for fear of confrontation and are reluctant to challenge any decision put forward. Comments were made that in some teams, the only common bond they have is ‘the fear of the one who calls the shots.’ People also cited the fact that they were ashamed about how this made them behave – when they feel relief that it’s someone else’s turn, they keep their head down and squirm and then are full of shame at how they have just watched their
colleague take a verbal beating. Such public displays are most often conducted by senior staff, managers, programme makers or others who are sufficiently confident of their position and reputation to give such a performance. They have learned the signals of authority and power it can send. Visible behaviour such as this has, by definition, a public impact. It intensifies the pressure on the victim and acts as a warning to others."

If I were Change Associates, I'd just re-submit the 2013 report - nothing has changed in 10 years. Its recommendations were accepted by the whole Executive Board, then led by Tony Hall, and at that time including Tim Davie as CEO Worldwide, Rhodri Talfan Davies as Director of Wales, and David Jordan as Director of Editorial Policy.
  • Grahame was brought up in Nottingham, went to Bilborough Sixth Form College, studied economics at Leeds, and later got an MBA from Warwick.  He joined Commercial Union as a trainee, then moved into Ford Motor Company’s finance and leasing arm; then worked as HR Director of UCB pharmaceuticals in Sutton. In 1999 he moved into Organisation and Development consulting, and eventually joined KPMG. As well as Change, Grahame also set up a technology consulting firm called Preos. He lives in East Grinstead, and is currently Chair of the East Grinstead Business Association. 

Not really live

The decision to take Question Time to the United States was an odd-one for an apparently cash-strapped organisation. Fiona Bruce revelled in it, and told us so in The Spectator. It looks like they recorded an hour and a half, then cut it back to an hour. In the puffs for the programme, this clearly taped programme was streamed 'live'; I think I'd have preferred the publicists to stick at streamed

"Audiences in the U.S. can access the BBC News channel on cable TV, as a livestream on the newly relaunched BBC.com and BBC app, and as a live 24-7 stream on major FAST platforms, including Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, Xumo Play, VIZIO WatchFree+, Sling Freestream and Plex. Question Time US election special will also be available to watch for subscribers of Britbox in North America and other territories. The programme will be available to watch live on the BBC North America news pages."

I've scoured social media for punter reviews...

 

Friday, October 11, 2024

She's got the formula

The BBC's Chief Customer Officer Kerris Bright has her feet under the table, and explains, in this podcast, how she's got the commissioners of content to focus on light users of the BBC. Explains why we're not getting a new Shakespeare cycle, losing drama on Radio 3, and face endless antiques and quiz shows; a formula for dumbing down.


Money saving expert ?

Did Keir and Sue really plan out the first twelve months ?  Anyone beginning to feel that expectations-about-The-Budget are being managed ?  Talk of a 'two-stage' defence review emerges this week; today, a longer review of shorter prison sentences; both with a blurring consequence for five-year capital spending.   "Invest, invest, invest" shouts Rachel. "How much, how much, how much ?" and "Where from, etc" we politely murmur.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

"Watch live" ?

Without being over-ghoulish, I was looking forward to BBC News coverage of Hurricane Milton overnight, with at least 60 staff now working across the United States. When I hit the 'watch live' button on the News website at 2.30am this morning, I got, without time-stamp, bits of Newsnight, and the Merlyn Thomas misinformation package from the 10. 

Elsewhere, I learned Milton had lost speed at landfall near Siesta Key; that preceding tornados, spinning off from the main vortex, had done real damage to a residential park near St Lucie, with hundreds of police, firemen and others searching crumpled buildings before Milton arrived. 

This re-running of old stuff is unhelpful; just after 9am we got an overnight wrap package made in London, which still talked about 1m cut off from electricity, and others waiting for Milton. At that time, the electricity was lost to 2.6m - and Milton was heading out to sea across the Atlantic. 

Transparency ?

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Gold in Digbeth

How out of London works. In January, Spun Gold, an indie that makes Garden Rescue for BBC Daytime, announces it is moving office, from London to Digbeth. Also in January, Nick Bullen announces the creation of  Fifty3 Degrees as a holding company for his 'portfolio of content creation companies', including Spun Gold.  Nick, ex Granada and This Morning, now lives in Needham Market and appears on Fox News as a Royal Commentator, "Editor in Chief, True Royalty TV". 

Today, the BBC Media Centre tells us "BBC One commissions Policing Paradise (w/t) made by Birmingham-based production company". 

Spun Gold have been working with the Bermuda Police for some time in the making of this 'documentary' series. BBC daytime commissioner Alex McLeod says “Policing Paradise is like the real-life Death in Paradise. Audiences will be able to get lost in the Islands of Bermuda as they are taken on a journey with the wonderful police force working to keep Bermuda safe for residents and tourists. It’s a deep dive into the culture of these truly unique islands and one we hope audiences will feel privileged to be a part of.”

Yes, warts and all ? Er. A Bermuda Police Service spokesman said in July: “This TV programme is designed to show Bermuda, the BPS, and the RBR Coastguard in a good light, while encouraging UK citizens to consider visiting the island. All footage will be thoroughly reviewed by the BPS Senior Leadership Team before being released for inclusion in the series. Likewise, all proposed episodes will be vetted by the BPS before release for broadcast.”

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Mobilisation

BBC people going to the USA for the Presidential Election (on top of those already employed there):

Clive Myrie
Victoria Derbyshire
Matt Chorley
Fiona Bruce
Justin Webb
Ros Atkins
Merlyn Thomas

I feel sure this list is not exhaustive.

Monday, October 7, 2024

Purdah

Master of Spin Alastair Campbell came close to identifying the root cause of Starmer's current woes on the Today Programme this morning. Most new administrations go for a Budget within 4 to 6 weeks of their arrival in office.  Rachel Reeves' key despatch box appearance will be close to four months after the General Election. 

Effectively, pre-Budget purdah started on July 5th. Ministers were allowed to announce reviews, and not much more. The symbolic cutting of the Winter Fuel Allowance For All might have been ok in a mini-budget, when the public might be able to see some balancing actions, but we won't know until the end of October whether this was strategic shroud-waving. Are we heading for mini-austerity or a form of belt-tightening that actually restricts circulation ?

Fear of scaring the markets means the Treasury and the OBR have been testing Labour's policies non-stop over the summer. And never mind the Black Hole - the Tories left many more capital spending plans in the too-difficult-for-an-election year.  Prisons, hospitals and schools are in desperate need of new building plans. Transport strategy requires big decisions about road-building v road maintenance; and how to take funds from motorists as we switch from petrol and diesel to evs; local authorities, universities are teetering on the brink of financial collapse; the way we pay GPs is now so dysfunctional that hedge-funds are snapping up practices and consolidating them; can anyone tell what our policy on farming land is meant deliver - houses, crops or lovely meadows ? 

Billions of short and long-term funding need to be re-arranged into a coherent five year plan by October 30th; one that the OBR can acknowledge as likely to improve the financial position of UK Ltd over the period. 

Sue Grey got naively caught up in one minor element; trying to control spending on Westminster Special Advisers. It's marginal; core salaries have grown from £9m to close to £13m over the last five years, with hefty sums on top for the severance pay consequential on changes of Prime Minister. She might have come clean and said let's have fewer than 100, but opted for an secret downgrading.  SpAds are also very conscious of hospitality and gifts, subject to the same three month declarations as their ministers... 

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Movie night

Strictly Come Dancing's Movie Night was up on the same night last year - an average audience of 7.7m, compared with 7m in 2023. 

This time last year Amanda Abbington was happily 'doing Bridget Jones' in the rumba with Giovanni Pernice, to 'Out Of Reach' by Gabrielle.  Her only complaint on-air was being recognised buying corn plasters. Anton said 'lovely legs, purring, changes of speed, ooh have some of that, I’m getting warm, maybe it’s the velvet'. Craig niggled 'lacked flow, too placed but beautifully performed'. Motsi offered 'elegant, controlled movement but weight was too far back to ooze through it, expressive and high quality'.  Shirley was onside 'I commend your rumba walk, you took me down memory lane, your splits was better than mine, improving each week, well done'. 6,8,8, and made 30. The Guardian opined 'A finalist in waiting' ?  Two weeks later, she pulled out. 

Stand out moments

NAJA: Welcome everyone. I think this is the first time we've had everyone from Curation, Engagement, Social, SEO, Weekend Planning, In Depth, Global, Marketing, Branding, Growth and Youth together - and I hope you can all hear me in the overspill room. Sam, what's your Winning The Weekend highlight for us ?

SAM: We're doing good business with the new fourth rail, "Weekend Playlist - watch our picks of stand-out moments from the iPlayer." There's Hugh Grant, James Bay, the coat-hanger woman, Camilla Cabello, Paddy and Chris, a clip from Industry, Yasmin Finney and a call to download the iPlayer app. 

Bill's notes: The Hugh Grant clip is from Graham Norton on Friday 4th October It's a one-minute tale of an after-dinner party. Most other news outlets chose the bit where he said the new Bridget Jones' film has sad elements. Later BBC Culture reporter Noor Nanji wrote that story up on Saturday, but there's no link between the two pieces. 

James Bay is from Friday's edition of The One Show, in which he re-tells a story of an American musician saying one of his songs reminds him of The Beatles. 

The coat hanger woman is professional de-clutterer Dilly Carter turning coat hangers round to tell which clothes you actually 'use', taken from an unnamed repeat episode of Sort Your Life Out.

Camilla Cabello told The One Show on Monday 30th September that she had been to pubs when she lived in London, and that her new album was about Miami. The One Show clipped it on their Facebook page on Tuesday. 

Paddy and Chris screaming on a roller coaster was clipped on BBC Morning Live on Friday 27th September, and posted on Morning Live's Facebook page that day. The show was transmitted on Sunday 29th September. 

The clip from Industry is rather threatening in an Andrew-Tate-sort-of-way, with two men shouting "I'm a man, and I'm relentless".  It's a shorter version of a clip pushed by BBC and BBC iPlayer on Friday (it avoids the word 'pussy').  Around the world, it's been a mini-meme since this series went out on HBO in August. 

The Yasmin Finney clip is from The One Show on Thursday, pushed out on Facebook by the programme that same day; she talks about fellow actors on Dr Who playing word games during breaks in filming.

The last clip is a 4 second screen suggesting we download the BBC iPlayer app now. 

All the clips lie unchanged between Saturday and Sunday. Most other outlets have moved on. This is lazy, poor quality, low common denominator padding, unthought out, and, because News is frightened of leading you to a licence-fee encircled iPlayer, the benefit back to the wider BBC is, er, nil.  



Saturday, October 5, 2024

Question time again

How's BBC News Online winning this particular weekend ?  Well, there's the now familiar range of unanswered, unanswerable questions. At 0900 in the UK, on the top seven stories,  "Should you tip even if the service wasn't worth it?".   In the top twelve stories, "How worried should I be about rising oil prices?"

Not just winning the weekend, but clearly reaching the under-served 20 million or so C2DEs, eh ?

Friday, October 4, 2024

Fight night

"It's the pursuit of truth that gives us our calling". Words uttered by Clive Myrie in the latest promotional campaign for BBC News. A mean, moody piece in the style of a film trailer, owing much to franchises like the Bourne Identity. Indeed, under the banner "Trust Is Earned" this 90 second epic is titled "The Fight For Truth Is On". 

Launching the ad (it's an ad, really), recently-arrived Chief Brand Officer Charl Bassil can't help talking in slogans " It feels timely and a fitting message for the times we all find ourselves in. After all, this is Our BBC.”

The content features a meeting in a dimly lit office with Clive and others peering at a computer screen. Real or staged ?   Compliant with Health and Safety Executive HSG 38: Lighting at Work ? 








I'm also made uneasy by the assertion that BBC News/journalism is a 'calling'; Mr Myrie is well rewarded for this penance, currently at £310k + Mastermind + Proms + Radio 3 + conferences.  Some people say journalism is not even a profession. Discuss.

Echo chamber

Very puzzled when ministers with an interest in technological stuff like carbon capture end up sounding like they're in the bathroom on radio interviews.  Surely, a Civil Servant or SPAD can talk Ed Miliband through using a closer mike on zoom/skype or down the line.... 

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Next - no thank you

Sometimes I strike home; sometimes I feel I'm wailing down an empty and echoing fire escape stairwell at the back of Broadcasting House. 

More maps are appearing, but there's no end to pompous 'what-nextery' stuff. "How could Israel respond, and what might Iran do then?" by Frank Gardner offers double-bubble. "Bowen: Iran wanted to do real damage, and Israel's response may not be as restrained as last time". Tom Bateman in the State Department opines: "My sense so far is that the Israeli response is not immediately imminent, that the Americans support the retaliation but are still urging restraint - at least so far as to try to prevent a further Iranian counterattack."

Give us a break, lads.

Have words, Sam

Is the new Controller of Radio 3 seeking to make savings in 'drama' ?  The last remaining slot on Sam Jackson's network for thespians and their fans is Sunday evening. The next three plays on offer are repeats.  The Third Programme and Radio 3 have a remarkable place in supporting new and challenging drama, featuring and nurturing over the years Samuel Beckett, Dylan Thomas, Joe Orton, Harold Pinter and more, and the Sunday slot is longer than any currently on offer on Radio 4. 

In the modern BBC, Jackson reports to Lorna Clarke, as Director of Music, while drama lies with Mohit Bakaya, Director of Speech (as well as Minder of Radio 4 and 4Extra).  

As well as drama, speech on Radio 3 is dotted some evenings in the filler "Between The Ears"; gives you 50% of "Words And Music"; runs most weekday evenings in "The Essay", and precedes the Sunday drama in "The Sunday Feature".  Producers are worried there's some 'rationalisation' thinking at the top. 

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Please, don't 'what next' me

An exciting, excitable edition of the BBC 6'Clock News last night, followed by a slightly more measured 10. 

Whilst the 6 brought impressive coverage, with impressive live reporting firepower, there's room now for more context, and much, much less "what-happens-nextery". 

The use of video loops and wallpaper (often without a caption saying location and 'recorded earlier') is familiar to viewers of 24 hour news channel. It can create a misleading impression in a 'bulletin'; and I'm not sure last night if the right 'wallpaper' necessarily accompanied the location of the various correspondents. And, against a black sky, shots of the flaming remains of missiles falling to earth, make situation look more terrifying. 

At 10, there was a clear contradiction between correspondents in the region, one repeatedly using "unprecedented" about the scale and impact of the Iranian, barrage and another, in London, saying the Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow 1 and 2 defence systems had largely worked. 

A comparison needs to be done with the April attack by Iran. Then the Israeli Defence Force said they dealt with 120 ballistic missiles, over 30 cruise missiles, and around 170 drones.  This morning the BBC website says of last night's action: "Iran launched around 180 missiles towards Israel, the Israeli military said. That would make it a slightly larger attack than April's barrage, which saw about 110 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles fired towards Israel."  Different, then, but not necessarily unprecedented. 

In the 'what-nextery' department, we heard quite a lot at the beginning of the week about Iran's options being very limited.  In the end, they went for option 1 - but probably guessing that the impact would be about the same as April. 

Meanwhile the IDF continue to manage the narrative. We've been watching the Israeli tank compound in northern Israel since the weekend. Yesterday the IDF told us they'd made 70 unreported raids into Lebanon in the past year to destroy and capture munitions. How did they keep that quiet, and where are the tanks now, and are they unopposed ?

Finally, please, more maps, that help viewers with less knowledge of what's were understand what's going on. It is insufficient, and misleading, to place a huge red arrow between Iran and Israeli, and think that's job done. 

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Back home

Congratulations to Hayley Valentine, 53 (Auchtermuchty High School, and Edinburgh University) on her appointment as Director of BBC Scotland. 

She was born in Glenrothes, into a family of bookbinders, based in Falkirk. She crashed two pool cars while a trainee at D C Thomson, four years after passing her driving test. They made her take more lessons. She was embarrassed by her parking skills at Radio Forth, and got a colleague to park company cars for her. At Radio 5Live, she was part of the coverage of Madonna's wedding at Skibo Castle in December 2000. 

She was launch editor of the Nine on BBC Scotland, now gone from the schedules. She then moved to run the BBC Radio Newsroom, and has most recently been Head of Midlands, where the BBC is rebuilding The Tea Factory in Digbeth.  

Live streaming

BBC News is broadcasting a live feed from inside Old Marylebone Town Hall, where the entrepreneurs behind Westminster City Council's wedding franchise are hosting 100 marriages in a day. The live feed page lacks any explanation.  Here's one: the 100th anniversary of the venue has been accompanied by an offer of £100 per couple, compared with the usual price of £621 upwards. 












Meanwhile the 'live' text page on the same subject is "Edited by Matt Spivey and Dulcie Lee, with Thomas Mackintosh reporting from his own wedding"

Other people who read this.......