Who will the next DG be ?

[Guest]

Any preferences, suggestions ?


[ Remember: A DG is not just for christmas ]

[DracoM]

Yup, GE is already on the way out, tho' he may not yet know it. His card is marked by the press for a very, very long time. It'll be some anonymous apparatchik who has managed to inch their way up the greasy pole, making no waves, done nothing to blot his / her copybook, never made a programme, never made a decision, blinks like a rabbit in the headlights and smiles disarmingly, while consulting / spouting the 'Beeb Book of Platitudes'.

[aeolium]

How about John Lloyd, the writer and producer? He at least knows the BBC from the creative programme-making side and would almost certainly bring a welcome break from the bland, risk-free, ratings-driven type of programming we have seen in the last two decades or so. No experience of broadcasting administration but that might be no bad thing - he could cut through the great swathes of bureaucracy.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

witch hunts eh .... the howling pack and snarling dogs of self righteous indignation ....

ah how senator J MacCarthy would enjoy living now, so many arenas for inquiry so much iniquity .... the lapse of the reds leaves the bed eh ...

shall we wait until the evidence is in and the enquiries do their job? .... remember the great damage a certain A Campbell caused the BBC when in fact it was pretty much right? ... same again sir?


as i recall sexual abuse was widely tolerated in all sorts of places across our society in the fifties sixties et seq .... hence all the subsequent scandals and cover ups and the shock at just how much paedophile activity there seems to be ... [in real life not just the media ... i spent several years as a school governor and learned of extensive abuse in a small geography]

i doubt that any one of the MPs on the media committee could have done better than George in his first four weeks in the job, and, ... er, what was their record in exposing theft from the public purse by their colleagues a while back?

still let's burn a few witches at the stake, we'll all feel so much better eh?

[aeolium]

Yes, I feel a bit sorry for GE since the D-G when all this was taking place (the Newsnight business) was Thompson who has left GE to field the flak.

You're right about the prevalence of sexual harassment and child abuse in all kinds of institutions in the 1950s-1970s especially. It's incredible how Savile got away with his (alleged) activities for so long, though his celebrity status, charity work, influence and money undoubtedly helped. Anyone making an allegation against him while he was alive would have had the libel laws to contend with.

Even the Newsnight issue is not as clear-cut as it appears. Had the BBC pulled the tribute programme (or not mounted one) because of the Newsnight investigation then questions would have been asked as to why the BBC were not commemorating the work of such a famous presenter long associated with the BBC, yet they could not have said anything as the Newsnight programme was still presumably under preparation.

(Sorry, this really should have been on the other thread).

[Resurrection Man]

Yup, GE is already on the way out, tho' he may not yet know it. His card is marked by the press for a very, very long time. It'll be some anonymous apparatchik who has managed to inch their way up the greasy pole, making no waves, done nothing to blot his / her copybook, never made a programme, never made a decision, blinks like a rabbit in the headlights and smiles disarmingly, while consulting / spouting the 'Beeb Book of Platitudes'.

That would be Roger Wright then ?

[french frank]

There's a bizarre parallel with the Lesley Douglas-Ross/Brand affair, where Douglas had to go for not taking enough 'interest' in a programme which looked to be dodgy. But Douglas went because the event was current and she was still in the same post. Entwistle may escape because the events were decades ago; the programme was more recent but he'd already moved onwards and upwards (though he might have been out of the picture for DG if this had been revealed earlier).

What I saw of the CMS Committee's questioning (mainly Philip Davies) seemed pseudo-forensic and off-beam. If Entwistle can show a strong hand with the enquiries, I think he'll survive. Interesting that of the recent DG shortlist, Thomson has left the BBC, Davie is moving to BBC Worldwide (though why he was ever considered a likely DG contender I can't imagine) and Boaden is slightly implicated in the Newsnight business.

[Stunsworth]

What happened at the Beeb was wrong, very wrong, but I can't help thinking that the newspapers that are now being highly critical of the BBC were sitting on exactly the same story.

[DracoM]

.................and newspapers are delighted that the spotlight on THEM over Leveson etc etc is now switched elsewhere!!
I bet they play it for all its worth.

[VodkaDilc]

and Boaden is slightly implicated in the Newsnight business.

HIGHLY implicated, it seems to me. ("Toast!", as Ed M might say, along with Entwistle?)

Vacancy for DG by November?

Greg Dyke might be a good choice!

[gurnemanz]

I don't think he should resign just because of the Savile situation. What is worrying is that the present scenario seems to show him to be out of his depth and not good at handling a crisis, i.e. that he was not the right man in the first place and not a safe pair of hands for any future calamities.

[Paul Sherratt]

And who will the next Trust boss be ?

[Stillhomewardbound]

If Entwistle has gone, then I think Patten needs to consider his position too. He's not just there as a figurehead. Ultimately, his role is to be the final arbiter on all matters editorial and administrative.

That aside, while the DG is effective editor-in-chief, he is above day to day editorial decisions, and how could it be otherwise? Consider the vast number of BBC News & Current Affairs output hours across each week. It would be an absurdity to imagine him sat a desk all our hours expecting emails by the dozen from the respective programme advising them of their intended output.

That surely is the job of the layers beneath him. My memory of the BBC is hazy but I'm fairly certain that there is no shortage of personnel in place to maintain editorial standards. For example, there are the individual programme editors, who then have an executive editor to answer to. They then have a channel controller to answer to while there are controllers of radio and tv output, not to mention a director of NCA & editorial policy.

Entwistle is responsible for none of this current debacle and he has had to fall on his sword, principally, because he's a bit of a dork and has been unable to talk his way out of a paper bag, when, it might be argued, the job spec requires just that.

So, back to Patten. Just really what has he being doing to take the Beeb by the scruff of the neck and shake it up accordingly?

[Lateralthinking1]

It's Time To Bring In Mark Scott!

Current Head of a Public Broadcasting Service, Journalism Background, Experience of Public and Private Sectors, Supports Quality Broadcasting, Keen on Radio, Strategic Thinker, Understands Importance of New Technology, More Aware of Minutiae as Current Head of a Smaller Broadcasting Service, Low Key Approach with Track Record of Minimising Controversy, No Party Political Bias

Quite shocked that Entwistle has gone after 55 days. This must be one of the few resignations on a point of principle anywhere since 2000. How old fashioned. It could also suggest that the BBC has just lost someone with unusual integrity.

I think it is right that those who are paid the most to take responsibility carry the can, even if they can't know everything. At the same time, I would give them some leeway. Let them be in charge for a year before having to be in that position.

Some might say that the current matters call for a woman's involvement. Can Caroline Thomson be persuaded back, following that sudden and surprising decision to leave in September? And was that an expression of disappointment or sheer nous?

Maybe though it is time to bring in someone who isn't viewed as an institutionalised BBC person. I suggested twice earlier in the year here that Mark Scott of ABC could be that very person. Given the recent events, I am even more of that opinion now.

Short Interview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL2xAbPQU0c

ABC Classic FM - http://www.abc.net.au/classic/

[eighthobstruction]

Such a shame Mick McCarthy has only recently been employed by Ipswich....

....I dare say Delia Smith has some time on her hands....visions of her standing in the middle of the atrium at Broad casting House Portland Place and shouting ""Come on then"....