on media


BBC needs journalistic experience at the top


Panorama row mercilessly exposes malfunctions in the management, says Raymond Snoddy


although obviously such a thing should never have happened at all. Prospect editor Alan Rusbridger


M


ore than two months after what seemed like a tropical storm of unexpected and unprecedented


ferocity broke over the BBC, a lot of unanswered questions remain. Even now, it is truly extraordinary that 20 seconds of inept editing of a Trump speech in a Panorama programme broadcast two years ago, which no one complained about at the time, should have had such serious consequences. It is difficult to comprehend that the splicing together of two sections of a 50-minute speech by President Trump led to the resignations of BBC director-general Tim Davie, BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness and, later, board member Shumeet Banerji. Naturally, President Trump


threatened lawsuits and is demanding $5 billion compensation, a sum that would bankrupt the organisation. As if performing to a well-oiled


script, all the other political actors that hate the BBC, urged on by the right- wing papers, stepped up to play their parts, calling for the BBC to lose its licence fee or even be closed down. In an ultimate irony, Kelvin


MacKenzie of Hillsborough notoriety was interviewed by the BBC itself in a discussion on ‘editorial integrity’ much to the anger of Liverpool fans. So far so completely predictable, but there is a lot we still do not know for sure. How did the splicing of two sections of a speech together to make a single uninterrupted sentence happen? Most likely, it was pressure to tidy up the ramblings of Trump rather than any deliberate attempt to mislead


showed the programme and the controversial edit to Pulitzer-winning journalists Bill Keller and Lowell Bergman and neither saw it as a ‘hanging offence’. Indeed, Keller noted that “viewed today, the documentary seems prescient”. Did Davie have to resign, given that


BBC chairman Dr Samir Shah, whose background was in TV current affairs, urged him not to do so? Almost certainly not, although Panorama may have been the last straw after ‘scandals’ including Glastonbury and the tainted Gaza documentary. Were Davie and Turness victim of a political coup? Probably not, although BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb has been described by Emily Maitlis as an ‘active Tory party agent’ shaping news output. Will Trump get any money? Not a cent. The BBC has apologised and there is general legal agreement that Trump will find it very difficult to mount a case in the US, given the programme was never shown there. He might also be wary about a new legal examination of his role in the murderous events at the US Capitol on January 6 2021. What does the affair say about the


state of governance of the BBC? The Panorama row has mercilessly exposed a history of malfunctions at the top of the BBC in failing to get a grip on problems quickly and, instead, often hoping they might go away. The letter by Banerji published after his resignation is particularly damning. Turness was told she did not have the confidence of the majority of the board. Banerji wrote he was “not invited to


any meeting where a matter of such importance was to be discussed”.


Can the BBC recover and, above all, can trust be restored in its journalism? The answer of course is yes. Davie was a perfectly decent


executive whose background was in marketing rather than editorial, which turned out to be a flaw given the almost impossible nature of the job. The director-general not only has to run the BBC but is also editor in chief – and not many individuals can do both. As part of the impending round of


top-level appointments, there is an urgent need to recreate the previous post of deputy director-general. Either the director-general or a


powerful deputy must have serious journalistic experience – the area from where most of the BBC’s woes arise. Are there good candidates around?


Yes, and one could easily become the BBC’s first female director-general. They include Alex Mahon, until


“


recently chief executive of Channel 4, Jane Turton, the former ITV executive who is chief executive of All3Media, Jay Hunt, former BBC One controller and now Apple’s creative head in Europe, and Charlotte Moore, former BBC chief content officer and now chief executive of Left Bank Pictures, to name but four. Almost an embarrassment of riches. Have the government and culture


Panorama may have been the last straw after ‘scandals’ including Glastonbury and the tainted Gaza documentary


secretary Lisa Nandy a role in all this? She could bring in reforms. Having expressed ‘a real concern’ that political appointments to the BBC board can damage public trust in the corporation, she needs to ensure such appointments are totally independent of the government and political parties. As part of the government’s review ahead of the new royal charter, Nandy could also create an independent body to take the funding of the BBC away from the hands of government, whether it is called a licence fee or not.


theJournalist |07


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