Sunday, August 28, 2022
Controlling the BBC
There is an interesting post-script to Emily Maitlis' exposure of the BBC as Tory party enablers in Friday's Guardian.
The paper reports that a former BBC executive has claimed he was blocked from a top job at the broadcaster due to fears his background in Labour politics would anger Boris Johnson’s government:
James Purnell spent almost a decade at the BBC in a variety of executive roles, before leaving two years ago after the arrival of Tim Davie as director general. He had previously been an MP and served as a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government.
He has now claimed he was blocked from joining the corporation’s board in June 2020 out of concern it would prompt the Conservative government to up its attacks on the BBC.
“Tim Davie had offered me a job on the board but the non-execs [non-executive directors] decided they didn’t want someone with a Labour background,” he tweeted.
He said that at the time “the organisation felt it was dealing [with] an existential risk” due to threats from Johnson’s Conservative government to slash the licence fee so “went into hyper-cautious mode”.
As a result Purnell said the BBC board concluded that his political background ruled him ineligible for the role, even though he believed people needed to leave their personal politics at the door when they join the BBC. The executive subsequently left the broadcaster and is now vice-chancellor of the University of the Arts London.
Purnell's comments show that the government does not need to be overt in the way it manages the BBC. Just the possibility of ministerial disapproval it seems, is enough to make then tow the line. So much for impartiality.
The paper reports that a former BBC executive has claimed he was blocked from a top job at the broadcaster due to fears his background in Labour politics would anger Boris Johnson’s government:
James Purnell spent almost a decade at the BBC in a variety of executive roles, before leaving two years ago after the arrival of Tim Davie as director general. He had previously been an MP and served as a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government.
He has now claimed he was blocked from joining the corporation’s board in June 2020 out of concern it would prompt the Conservative government to up its attacks on the BBC.
“Tim Davie had offered me a job on the board but the non-execs [non-executive directors] decided they didn’t want someone with a Labour background,” he tweeted.
He said that at the time “the organisation felt it was dealing [with] an existential risk” due to threats from Johnson’s Conservative government to slash the licence fee so “went into hyper-cautious mode”.
As a result Purnell said the BBC board concluded that his political background ruled him ineligible for the role, even though he believed people needed to leave their personal politics at the door when they join the BBC. The executive subsequently left the broadcaster and is now vice-chancellor of the University of the Arts London.
Purnell's comments show that the government does not need to be overt in the way it manages the BBC. Just the possibility of ministerial disapproval it seems, is enough to make then tow the line. So much for impartiality.
