Karen Wightman joins Panorama exodus

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/19/panorama-al-jazeera-karen-wightman-bbc

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BBC1’s flagship current affairs show Panorama has lost another senior journalist, following the recent departure of its editor and all four remaining dedicated reporters.

Panorama deputy editor Karen Wightman is leaving the programme to head al-Jazeera’s investigative team, based in Washington DC.

The programme’s temporary editor, Ceri Thomas, said Wightman, who is one of three deputy editors, embodied the “spirt and heart” of Panorama.

It is a further senior departure from the 61-year-old show, the world’s longest running current affairs programme, following the exit of former editor Tom Giles in May. Thomas, the BBC’s head of news programmes, took charge on a six-month basis.

The programme also lost its four-strong team of dedicated reporters, including John Sweeney and Paul Kenyon, who were made redundant as part of the latest round of cuts at BBC News totalling £48m and affecting around 500 people.

The whole of the BBC’s current affairs output is up for grabs after the BBC’s director of news and current affairs, James Harding, warned that its coverage had to change in the face of declining audiences and the changing digital environment.

Giles, editor of Panorama for four years, was given the task of coming up with a blueprint for the future of BBC current affairs before taking on a new senior role later this year.

The overhaul was announced a month after the BBC Trust said the corporation’s current affairs failed to stand out and often lagged behind Channel 4, which took all four nominations for the current affairs prize at this year’s Bafta TV awards, won by Olly Lambert’s acclaimed Dispatches investigation, Syria: Across the Lines.

In an email to the Panorama team, Thomas said it was with “extremely mixed feelings that I have some important news to announce”.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for Karen, but I don’t need to tell anyone how much we’ll miss her on Panorama,” he said.

“Once in a while on a programme team, someone comes along whose importance is about much more than the position they occupy or the role they play; they embody something about the spirit and the heart of the programme itself. In my estimation, that’s what Karen has come to mean to Panorama.”

Thomas said Wightman’s reputation had been built on “outstanding journalism, wonderful film-making and undying commitment”, working on programmes about phone hacking, Hillsborough, Fifa and the Panorama special about the Jimmy Savile scandal.

He added: “Soon, we’ll have the unenviable task of finding someone to step into her shoes, but before that we’ll concentrate on making plans to give Karen the send-off she deserves; in other words, one of the biggest send-offs Panorama has seen in its 60 years.”

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