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Chairmanship of OfCom and the BBC Board

Dimbleby considers bid to become BBC Chairman.....

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IS
Inspector Sands
Michael posted:
Because our current government are all about respecting laws....

True, but Ofcom is a quango not the government itself. Plus of course its worth understanding what the role of chairman is.

Ironically David Cameron reduced Ofcom's policy making powers when he was PM, although he didn't go as far as he wanted - to make it a purely functional, technical body.


Regardless of his political leanings, Dacre is not known for his niceness or easy to work with, I imagine the board meetings will get a lot more sweary and shouty
IS
Inspector Sands
Omnipresent posted:
Putting Paul Dacre in charge of OFCOM is bizarre. He is a notorious technophobe, famously dismissing the internet as the future of news in the late 1990s. I suspect Channel 4, who were the target of some ferocious Mail campaigns during his editorship, will have more reason to worry than the BBC.

Odd considering how wildly successful the Mail Online became.

The BBC probably have less to worry about from him because its not totally regulated by Ofcom. Whereas commercial broadcasting is

But then as I say any decisions made by the staff at Ofcom will have to conform to the Ofcom codes and the laws of the land, his opinion and influence are limited
JC
JCB
Inspector Sands posted:
Omnipresent posted:
Putting Paul Dacre in charge of OFCOM is bizarre. He is a notorious technophobe, famously dismissing the internet as the future of news in the late 1990s. I suspect Channel 4, who were the target of some ferocious Mail campaigns during his editorship, will have more reason to worry than the BBC.

Odd considering how wildly successful the Mail Online became.

The BBC probably have less to worry about from him because its not totally regulated by Ofcom. Whereas commercial broadcasting is

But then as I say any decisions made by the staff at Ofcom will have to conform to the Ofcom codes and the laws of the land, his opinion and influence are limited


Anything happened recently to make you confident our current government is averse to law breaking?
LL
London Lite Founding member
The only good to come out of this will be the news coming out of Ofcom staff to Private Eye when he starts swearing at staff.
SP
Spencer
I can’t help wondering if this is just sabre-rattling by the government. Dacre has not been confirmed in the role, and currently we’re just going on one newspaper report.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Downing Street has briefed the Sunday Times to scare the BBC in order to keep them in line... or maybe it’s just something else to distract from negative stories about the government’s handling of the pandemic.
AN
Andrew Founding member
Well there has to be a story like this every week for everyone to get hot and bothered about online for a few days, with predictions of all kinds of stuff happening down the line
Last edited by Andrew on 26 September 2020 10:38pm
CA
Cando
Tim Shipman is rarely wrong and the Charles Moore story was in the Mail on Sunday last week.
VA
valley
Probably worth noting this tweet from the Commissioner for Public Appointments...


OM
Omnipresent
I suspect the Paul Dacre story at least will prove to be a dead cat.

One point about Paul Dacre is that he is very publicity shy. He rarely gave interviews or public speeches when was editor of the Daily Mail and I can't recall many live media appearances. I don't think he would welcome the public scrutiny that would come with the role, especially when his knowledge of some sectors would be found wanting.
BR
Brekkie
Chairman of OFCOM could be perfect though in that regards - lets face it none of us have a clue who the current one is.
IB
Ian B
Spencer posted:
I can’t help wondering if this is just sabre-rattling by the government. Dacre has not been confirmed in the role, and currently we’re just going on one newspaper report.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Downing Street has briefed the Sunday Times to scare the BBC in order to keep them in line... or maybe it’s just something else to distract from negative stories about the government’s handling of the pandemic.

I think both. It's a good distraction for the media (not the general public) away from a particularly unpleasant time where the government are getting some major flack.

As has been pointed out, the jobs have to be formerly advertised so whatever Johnson or Cummings allegedly want is completely different to what might happen.
OM
Omnipresent
The Sunday Times now has a longer analysis on its website which has quotes from "allies" of Charles Moore and Paul Dacre:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/paul-dacre-and-charles-moore-are-no-fans-of-the-bbc-hiring-them-could-be-kill-or-cure-7v5g8bp0j

Quote:
Sarah Sands, the former editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, called the appointment of Moore “curiously rather Reithian” because he stood for “integrity and decency” like Lord Reith, the BBC’s founding father.

“This is an act of mischief: you have the BBC’s nemesis coming in as chairman, but he’ll want to restore the BBC to Reithian values that might seem stuffy to present staff.”

Others were critical. “This will shatter morale. People will leave, thinking: I won’t stay working here under Thatcher’s vicar on earth,” said a former employee of Moore’s.

“One of his main themes is hating the BBC. Charles is sinuous and charming. His handling of all this will appear terrifyingly reasonable. But he will gut the BBC, perhaps getting his revenge for its treatment of Thatcher.”


Quote:
Some who know Dacre well insisted that his views on the BBC had been misrepresented. Although he passionately believes that the corporation needs reform, he is equally exercised by the monopolistic power of the tech giants, chiefly Facebook and Google, they said. He would “die in a ditch” for the BBC, not kill it off, they added.

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