Pullover

Some unreported bits from James Harding's MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival. Delivered in James' trademark jumper with sleeves slightly rolled up. James was one of the most expensive Directors of BBC News.  He remains a fan of DG Tim Davie:

"Anyone who cares about the BBC should be grateful to Tim Davie: he has has hired brilliant people and let them loose to make fantastic programmes, he has transformed the business in building Studios, he is spreading its footprint across the country, he is a quietly determined tech evangelist when others are putting their heads in the sand and, with a resilience that is selfless, he acts as a human shield through crises and scandals that have not been of his making, but that he has answered for honourably and openly."

On Government influence over the BBC: 

"Half of the board’s non-executive directors are chosen by the government: when Emily Maitlis was here, she pointed out that Robbie Gibb, No. 10’s former spin doctor, is on the board and keenly involved in editorial oversight; he still is."

"To depoliticise the BBC means changing how appointments are made and budgets are set. The BBC chair and board of directors should be chosen, not by the Prime Minister, but by the board itself and then, like other such organisations, with the approval of Ofcom. The BBC will attract more and better people to apply for those jobs if they don’t feel like the appointment is a political stitch-up. The Charter should be open-ended. And the licence fee – or any future funding arrangement – should not be decided behind closed doors by the Culture Secretary and the Chancellor, but, as in Germany, set transparently and rationally by an independent commission that impartially advises Government and is scrutinised by Parliament."

On the World Service:

"The World Service’s weekly audience is bigger than the entire subscription base of Netflix, which has an exciting mantra “to entertain the world” but not a patch on the BBC’s “nation shall speak peace unto nation”. A properly funded World Service could reach a billion in the decade to come, an ambition that should appeal to all in this country and a contribution to fighting misinformation worldwide."