Omnipresent's posts, page 8

Davie, 53, has not given an interview or made a speech about his plans since his appointment in June, but we have spoken to senior BBC sources, close friends and executives who have worked with him and say he is determined to drive through “huge reform and reset”.

He has two key objectives, they say. He wants the BBC to “reconnect” with a broader audience by shedding its London-metropolitan bias and its “politically correct” culture. He also aims to rid the corporation of its lumbering management, lampooned in its self-parodying spoof documentary W1A.

First, Davie will take a hatchet to BBC management. Friends who worked with him in the private sector — he was at Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo before joining the BBC in 2005 — say he likes small, nimble management teams. They predict he will halve the executive committee to about nine members. Every remaining senior executive will be given ambitious targets. “Tim thinks too many BBC managers earn big money for just drifting around,” warns a colleague.

As the first director-general without a journalistic background since Sir Michael Checkland — who joined the corporation as an accountant and ran it from 1987-92 — Davie will not balk at taking on the behemoth of BBC News, colleagues say. He recognises the era of fake news “must also be the hour of impartiality”, he has told friends. “People want the facts, the truth, proper reporting.”

Rival efforts are under way to launch a Fox News-style opinionated current affairs TV station in Britain to counter the BBC.

One group is promising a news channel “distinctly different from the out-of-touch incumbents” and has already been awarded a licence to broadcast by the media regulator, Ofcom, under the name “GB News”. Its founder has said the BBC is a “disgrace” that “is bad for Britain on so many levels” and “needs to be broken up”.

A rival project is being devised in the headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire by the former Fox News executive David Rhodes, although it is unclear whether it will result in a traditional TV channel or be online-only.

Sir Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former communications chief, texted the programme’s editor, Esmé Wren, at 5am to complain about its alleged bias.

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, today announced The News with Shepard Smith will premiere on Wednesday, September 30th at 7pm ET. The live, one-hour program will broadcast each weeknight from CNBC’s Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. with encore presentations of the newscast airing at 12am ET and 4am ET. Sanford Cannold will serve as Senior Executive Producer and Sally Ramirez will join the network as Executive Producer.

The News with Shepard Smith is CNBC’s nightly newscast providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories. Featuring on-the-ground reporting from around the globe, The News with Shepard Smith will go beyond the headlines to give its viewers sharp context into the world around them in real-time. The program will be punctuated by compelling images and expert guests – all pulled together by Shepard Smith’s trademark devotion to speed, accuracy and the trust of his audience.

Hannity played his part masterfully. But his friends told me he was burnt out for long stretches of the Trump presidency. Being the president’s “shadow chief of staff,” as he was known around the White House, could be a thrill, but it was also a serious burden. Hannity counseled Trump at all hours of the day; one of his confidants said the president treated Hannity like Melania, a wife in a sexless marriage. Arguably, he treated Hannity better than Melania. Hannity’s producers marveled at his influence and access. “It’s a powerful thing to be someone’s consigliere,” one producer said. “I hear Trump talk at rallies, and I hear Sean,” a family friend commented.

Hannity chose this life, so no one felt sorry for him, but the stress took its toll. “Hannity would tell you, off-off-off the record, that Trump is a **** crazy person,” one of his associates said. Another friend concurred: “Hannity has said to me more than once, ‘he’s crazy.’”

NEW YORK – August 11, 2020 – FOX News Media announced today the launch of FOX News International, a new live digital streaming service of linear networks FOX News Channel and FOX Business for international users. Priced at $6.99 per month, the direct-to-consumer service will debut in Mexico on August 20th followed by Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom on September 17th and reaching 20 countries by the end of the year.

Boris Johnson is seeking to rebuild bridges with the BBC by appointing as its new chairman a prominent figure from the right, who does not want to “blow up” the national broadcaster.

The prime minister is drawing up a long list of possible leaders, understood to include the former cabinet ministers Nicky Morgan and Amber Rudd and the television interviewer Andrew Neil.

All are seen as credible figures with both the BBC and the Conservative Party.

Johnson has also held preliminary peace talks with Lord Hall, the corporation’s outgoing director-general, after a year of fractious exchanges.

Ben Cooper is joining Bauer Radio UK in a newly created role of Group Director, Content and Music, Bauer Radio UK.

This role will add further energy to Bauer’s strategy and ambition to develop differentiated creative audio products, grow audiences and offer access to valuable audiences for advertisers.

Ben brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked for over 20 years within the radio, music and live music industry having previously worked at both the BBC and within commercial radio. He has a strong track record of leading and developing successful teams to deliver creative content alongside strategic, bold decision-making driving digital innovation and change in order to meet the new ways audiences consume and interact. He was most recently Controller, BBC Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra & Asian Network.

Ben will sit on the Radio Exec UK and will work with the Managing Directors and Content Directors to recruit, educate, support and celebrate talent and people initiatives which underpin Bauer’s commitment to being a more diverse and inclusive place to work.