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Leave the BBC alone – it has a vision now | Leave the BBC alone – it has a vision now |
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Payoffs made to senior BBC executives sticky with sweeteners were wrong and absurd, as a highly critical report by the Commons public accounts committee has concluded. Had one of these supremos taken the BBC to court over "unfair" unsweetened dismissal they would have been laughed out of court. | Payoffs made to senior BBC executives sticky with sweeteners were wrong and absurd, as a highly critical report by the Commons public accounts committee has concluded. Had one of these supremos taken the BBC to court over "unfair" unsweetened dismissal they would have been laughed out of court. |
As the chair Margaret Hodge noted, this was a failure in the stewardship of public money, as well as a misunderstanding of public service. While the World Service and local radio shed jobs, the spectacle of beyond-contract payoffs has angered stretched BBC staff. | As the chair Margaret Hodge noted, this was a failure in the stewardship of public money, as well as a misunderstanding of public service. While the World Service and local radio shed jobs, the spectacle of beyond-contract payoffs has angered stretched BBC staff. |
That the BBC has probably not been as vulnerable since the 1980s is also true – not least because the enemies of impartiality are more powerful, and the BBC's competitors (maimed after a year's exposure of their own behaviour in the Leveson inquiry) are keen to wreck it. | That the BBC has probably not been as vulnerable since the 1980s is also true – not least because the enemies of impartiality are more powerful, and the BBC's competitors (maimed after a year's exposure of their own behaviour in the Leveson inquiry) are keen to wreck it. |
The corporation has reeled under wave after wave of crisis. Indeed, the last time the BBC was in this kind of trouble it had William Whitelaw and Douglas Hurd as home secretaries to oversee reform and, in the end, defend it. A large, powerful ministry (the Home Office), with experienced civil servants such as Sir Robert Armstrong, wanted change, but in the last instance protected the existence of an institution they believed the country and world to be better for. | The corporation has reeled under wave after wave of crisis. Indeed, the last time the BBC was in this kind of trouble it had William Whitelaw and Douglas Hurd as home secretaries to oversee reform and, in the end, defend it. A large, powerful ministry (the Home Office), with experienced civil servants such as Sir Robert Armstrong, wanted change, but in the last instance protected the existence of an institution they believed the country and world to be better for. |
Maria Miller, and her new permanent secretary, Sue Owen, have this sinuous tradition to fall back on, but they start with less power and authority in their hands. This is a test for them as well. | Maria Miller, and her new permanent secretary, Sue Owen, have this sinuous tradition to fall back on, but they start with less power and authority in their hands. This is a test for them as well. |
Yet the argument that all of this shows that the BBC governance structure is "broken" is not correct. Good governance structures evolve – they are not invented. If every time that there is a crisis, the BBC gets a new "structure", then how long will independence last? Since the public accounts committee hearings, the trust has clarified its independence, the BBC executive has new members, and Tony Hall feels like a man invigorated not beaten down by the challenge. Indeed, although it is not fashionable to say it, "structures" are also a matter of personality and the times. | Yet the argument that all of this shows that the BBC governance structure is "broken" is not correct. Good governance structures evolve – they are not invented. If every time that there is a crisis, the BBC gets a new "structure", then how long will independence last? Since the public accounts committee hearings, the trust has clarified its independence, the BBC executive has new members, and Tony Hall feels like a man invigorated not beaten down by the challenge. Indeed, although it is not fashionable to say it, "structures" are also a matter of personality and the times. |
It is worth saying (even more unfashionably) that the structure in place was in many ways performing as it should. The crisis was a consequence of the BBC trust bearing down on executive pay and numbers with a determined focus: long before banks and the NHS had begun to do so. | It is worth saying (even more unfashionably) that the structure in place was in many ways performing as it should. The crisis was a consequence of the BBC trust bearing down on executive pay and numbers with a determined focus: long before banks and the NHS had begun to do so. |
Indeed, the BBC trust had, since Sir Michael Lyons became chair, and through to the time of Lord Patten, a strategy. But the trust does not (and ought not to) "manage" the BBC. Nearly always, those who attack the BBC's governance use this as a disguise for their political and economic hostility to the very idea of the BBC – and pulling on the thread of the constitution is a way of unravelling the whole thing. So there was a trust strategy and it was working. Indeed, it was doing what the public wanted. | Indeed, the BBC trust had, since Sir Michael Lyons became chair, and through to the time of Lord Patten, a strategy. But the trust does not (and ought not to) "manage" the BBC. Nearly always, those who attack the BBC's governance use this as a disguise for their political and economic hostility to the very idea of the BBC – and pulling on the thread of the constitution is a way of unravelling the whole thing. So there was a trust strategy and it was working. Indeed, it was doing what the public wanted. |
The real question is why did BBC salaries get so large? One issue were the non-executive directors, appointed from outside on to the executive board. These business people were supposed to be a solution but turned out to be a problem. The philosophy behind their appointment was that people from "outside" brought "commercial" realism to the BBC. But they did not seem to understand the actual business of public service, and they brought with them the 90s and noughties belief in, and casual acceptance of, gross salaries. | |
BBC executives were paid less than their rivals and still are: Sky and Google pay far more, but a comfortable set of wild and improper expectations developed. Mark Thompson may have reduced the number of bureaucratic roles, but every increase in responsibility led to an increase in salaries. | BBC executives were paid less than their rivals and still are: Sky and Google pay far more, but a comfortable set of wild and improper expectations developed. Mark Thompson may have reduced the number of bureaucratic roles, but every increase in responsibility led to an increase in salaries. |
Indeed, getting rid of people and structures can also be a problem. Mark Byford presided over a journalism committee, set up in the wake of the Hutton inquiry to scout out and deal with potential crises before they broke. It went as he went. The mishandling of the Savile crisis happened three months later. | Indeed, getting rid of people and structures can also be a problem. Mark Byford presided over a journalism committee, set up in the wake of the Hutton inquiry to scout out and deal with potential crises before they broke. It went as he went. The mishandling of the Savile crisis happened three months later. |
But however apparently ferocious the attack, the delay between the gladiatorial humiliation of the BBC by Hodge and the publishing of the report has meant that the BBC has moved the situation on. Hall has dissolved management committees and put individual responsibility in place. The trust has clarified what it has responsibility for and what the management has responsibility for. And the corporation has capped redundancy payments (unlike many other public institutions). Hall feels in charge. | But however apparently ferocious the attack, the delay between the gladiatorial humiliation of the BBC by Hodge and the publishing of the report has meant that the BBC has moved the situation on. Hall has dissolved management committees and put individual responsibility in place. The trust has clarified what it has responsibility for and what the management has responsibility for. And the corporation has capped redundancy payments (unlike many other public institutions). Hall feels in charge. |
Hall has a job. The trust has a job that has already begun to put BBC programme-making back where it should be: at the centre of public concern. Making BBC reporting and BBC programmes sing is what needs to happen. | Hall has a job. The trust has a job that has already begun to put BBC programme-making back where it should be: at the centre of public concern. Making BBC reporting and BBC programmes sing is what needs to happen. |
But "governance" is separate from culture: the only real lever that the trust has that alters "culture" is appointing a new DG. Indeed, George Entwistle was appointed precisely because he said he wanted to make BBC culture more open, less command-led and more discursive. He was the wrong man for the appalling crisis that hit. | But "governance" is separate from culture: the only real lever that the trust has that alters "culture" is appointing a new DG. Indeed, George Entwistle was appointed precisely because he said he wanted to make BBC culture more open, less command-led and more discursive. He was the wrong man for the appalling crisis that hit. |
Hall has unbuttoned the Royal Opera House and run the Cultural Olympiad, and is now both changing culture and leading it in a new direction. He needs support to do it. | Hall has unbuttoned the Royal Opera House and run the Cultural Olympiad, and is now both changing culture and leading it in a new direction. He needs support to do it. |
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