The state will not consider the architecture of establishment a proper
subject for media discussion. The political and cultural arches and
colonnades supporting power are depicted as simply ‘there’. For example, the
BBC’s management structure is very much man-made but beyond discussion.
What do we actually know of how the BBC is run? Who are these governors
and who selected them?
In early 2004, we have heard much impassioned talk about the desperate need
by the governors to preserve the fundamental independence of the BBC from
the state or commercial pressures. If the independence of the BBC is
really so important, why are these issues never discussed?
The BBC’s charter comes up for renewal and journalists wondered whether the
government might do away with the system of governors. But the
public knows nothing about the governors, they know nothing about the
charter or its renewal, they are unable to form any kind of rational opinion.
And the state wants it that way - the establishment is to be accepted,
not understood. To facilitate understanding is to invite challenge.
The fact is that the Blair government appointed the lot:
- former BBC chairman Gavyn Davies; Director-General Greg
Dyke; BBC governors; heads of inquiries (Hutton, Butler). All
establishment figures. Currently the governors are:
- Lord Ryder of Wensum, former chief whip in
John Major’s government and political secretary to Margaret Thatcher.
- Mark Byford, a BBC “lifer” since 1979.
- Sir Robert Smith, vice-chair of Deutsche Asset Management and director &
chairman designate of Weir Group plc.
- Dermot Gleeson, Executive chairman of the MJ Gleeson Group plc.
- Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, former head of Defence and Overseas
Secretariat of the joint intelligence committee.
- Professor Fabian Monds, chairman of Invest Northern Ireland, the
economic development agency.
These are the core elites. The rest are token reps from Academia, Arts and
such. -
Dame Ruth Deech, barrister and academic, Chairman of English National Forum.
- Professor Merfyn Jones, historian & broadcaster, and member for Wales at
Broadcasting Standards Commission.
- Angela Sarkis, former chief executive of the Church Urban Fund.
- Deborah Bull, member of Arts Council for England.
- Ranjit Sondhi, a Birmingham University academic who has done work in
race and ethnic studies.
We are told the great issue at hand is the need to preserve the independence
of these governors from the government that appointed them. But they are all
members of the establishment elite, appointed by the elite. Can anything be
more farcical?
What the public are not told is the criteria used to appoint the governors:
who decides who becomes a governor and on what basis? How does the public
know the appointees are representing popular rather than elite interests?
Doesn't the appointment procedure already suggests that the BBC is not
independent?
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