Your BBC Needs You – interviewing a BBC veteran on Ross, Brand, and management mess

To contrast with the fledgling students I interviewed at City University, I had a chat with ex-BBC World Service board member Barry Langridge, a management expert and enthusiast for BBC ethics.

You can download the podcast below:

Public Surface Podcast, with Barry Langridge MBE

He says the BBC management is to blame for many of the crises discussed in this blog – all the more reason for City University alumni to get involved.

Celebrity BBC Journos having their cake and speeching it

Getting paid to make after-dinner speeches is a luxury reserved for the few who’ve made it onto society’s head table.

At the tender age of 24, even I remember a time when humble BBC journalists and presenters were characterised by British restraint rather than decadent privilege.

So the news (reported in The Mail and The Telegraph today) that Fiona Bruce, Huw Edwards, John Humphreys, Evan Davis and John Humphries among others, are all on the books of JLA, Britain’s largest after-dinner speaking agency, should come as another hammer blow to my perception of the Beeb.

But does it really matter?

No. Editorial guidelines for BBC staff state: “It is unlikely to be acceptable for any BBC staff member or BBC correspondent to be included on an agency list of those for hire for public speeches.”

But ‘unlikely’ is the key. Those cautious guidelines were introduced post-Hutton Inquiry to prevent loud-mouths such as Andrew Gilligan from tarnishing the BBC’s record in commercial newspaper articles.

After dinner speaking is a different platform altogether. My uncle recently went to a corporate dinner where James Naughtie was speaking. He said that Naughtie, true to form, was totally balanced. Now let’s get’s back to hunting down those bankers.

Climate of Fear?

They say that if you’re starting a blog, write something you really care about.

So, here is a blog about the big wide world of the BBC; a world in which I want to work one day. 

It will be deal with values that the BBC is constantly struggling to balance and uphold; informing, educating, and entertaining with objectivity.

In this internet age, that challenge is huge. Complaints are made at the click of  button and the consequences (good or bad), can last for months or do permanent damage.

Marina Hyde last week linked the BBC’s refusal to air the DEC humanitarian aid appeal for Gaza with last year’s so-called Sachsgate saga. It had created a climate of fear, according to Hyde.

Whether she was right or wrong, it is hard to see how articles still cynically milking the Ross-Brand saga (like this one in the Mail today), will help the BBC make the right choice when facing more serious decisions in future.