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BBC 'should not avoid investigative reporting after Savile and McAlpine' BBC 'should not avoid investigative reporting after Savile and McAlpine'
(about 1 hour later)
The BBC News director has urged the corporation's journalists not to shy away from investigative reporting and difficult issues in the wake of the Jimmy Savile and Lord McAlpine affairs.The BBC News director has urged the corporation's journalists not to shy away from investigative reporting and difficult issues in the wake of the Jimmy Savile and Lord McAlpine affairs.
James Harding, outlining his vision on Wednesday in his first major speech to staff since joining the BBC in August, said the corporation was the best news organisation in the world and should not be cowed by its critics. But it needed a renewed commitment to "curious, inquisitive journalism in the public interest".James Harding, outlining his vision on Wednesday in his first major speech to staff since joining the BBC in August, said the corporation was the best news organisation in the world and should not be cowed by its critics. But it needed a renewed commitment to "curious, inquisitive journalism in the public interest".
The former Times editor added that despite the demands of "feeding the beast of daily output", he wanted BBC News to devote more resources to "original journalism" and focus on "story-getting".The former Times editor added that despite the demands of "feeding the beast of daily output", he wanted BBC News to devote more resources to "original journalism" and focus on "story-getting".
BBC News also needed to address a "galloping technology revolution", he said, by developing new digital products, tools and working methods so that its content was available "everywhere, for everyone" on mobile apps, social media and web-connected TVs.BBC News also needed to address a "galloping technology revolution", he said, by developing new digital products, tools and working methods so that its content was available "everywhere, for everyone" on mobile apps, social media and web-connected TVs.
However, Harding also warned that BBC News would have to do more with less, finding a further £20m in savings from its annual budget by 2017 and contributing to a £100m investment in developing the iPlayer and other digital projects.However, Harding also warned that BBC News would have to do more with less, finding a further £20m in savings from its annual budget by 2017 and contributing to a £100m investment in developing the iPlayer and other digital projects.
More details soon... "Our response to Savile and McAlpine should not be that we shy away from investigative reporting and the coverage of difficult issues. In fact, we must renew our commitment to curious, inquisitive journalism in the public interest," Harding told his staff in a speech broadcast internally around the BBC.
"[Our critics] say we are too big, too lazy, too wasteful, too left-wing – (a few say we're too rightwing) – too monolithic, too insensitive, too white, too male, too old. And we have no business being defensive or, even worse, dismissive of such criticism.
"We must, genuinely, be alive to our critics, but we must not be cowed by them. Ultimately, our answer to them is and will be our journalism."
Structural changes
Harding announced a number of structural changes and new initiatives, including plans to create a news impact fund, backing teams of journalists from different areas of BBC News to investigate and "stick with" stories, which could come from the corporation's local, national or international operations. It will be run by the newly appointed head of newsgathering, Jonathan Munro, who is joining the BBC shortly from ITV News.
He will also be hiring a news editor, a senior role with responsibility for driving the daily news agenda and ensuring BBC News is "more than the sum of our parts in getting after the news every day". The news editor will be supported by two deputies looking after story planning and weekends, respectively.
New on-air editors for education and health will also be appointed, with at least one likely to be based in Birmingham or Salford.
Harding said current affairs was the backbone of the BBC it but did not "punch our weight" in the genre.
He intends to tackle that with measures including spending more time researching a story before committing to broadcast it, and being willing to pull ones that are not good enough, with the aim of "landing stories of real impact".
"For that, we need also to have the capacity to commit to big projects, whether as films or international co-productions, and to think beyond the one-off, to seasons which give a real sense of moment to a theme or an idea," Harding added.
Another new initiative will be a NewsLabs team, set up to develop the BBC's data and visual journalism and new formats for TV, radio and online.
"A galloping technology revolution is rapidly changing the way people get the news and, as they turn to mobile and social media, we need to move at their pace not ours," Harding said.
"The consumption of news is changing before our eyes. To meet the expectations of audiences and licence fee payers, we will need to be available everywhere, for everyone, now. For that, we are going to need new products, new ways of working and new tools."
'Wearying' cuts
Harding said he would finalise plans for how BBC News would meet the next £20m round of Delivering Quality First cost savings by the second half of 2014 and would have to look "not only at efficiency saving, but cutting the scope of what we do".
He admitted it was "unsettling and wearying" to go through further cuts, adding: "The reality we face, like so many other services and businesses, is that we are going to have to deliver more for less."
Harding said that the BBC needed to "look and sound more like its audiences" and would have to be "very determined to address diversity on air and, equally, off it".
He plans to bolster disability news reporting by putting more resources into the multimedia Ouch! team and make more use of Radio 1's Newsbeat, which tailors news to a youth audience, nationally and internationally.
Harding pledged that BBC News would deal with bullying allegations by staff "fairly and promptly" and create a "confident culture" in which people can "try and fail ... experiment and innovate".
He revealed that Sir Howard Stringer, the former Sony chairman, was advising the BBC on its global news plans and how to meet director general Tony Hall's target of doubling its worldwide audience to 500 million by 2022 and would be delivering his recommendations in the spring of 2014.
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