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Now Dyke goes (Read 11832 times)
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Now Dyke goes
Jan 29th, 2004, 3:40pm
 
Greg Dyke announced his departure to staff in this email:

This is the hardest e-mail I’ve ever written.
In a few minutes I’ll be announcing to the outside world that I’m leaving after four years as Director General. I don’t want to go and I’ll miss everyone here hugely.

However the management of the BBC was heavily criticised in the Hutton Report and as the Director General I am responsible for the management so it’s right I take responsibility for what happened.

I accept that the BBC made errors of judgement and I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that it will be hard to draw a line under this whole affair while I am still here. We need closure. We need closure to protect the future of the BBC, not for you or me but for the benefit of everyone out there. It might sound pompous but I believe the BBC really matters.

Throughout this affair my sole aim as Director General of the BBC has been to defend our editorial independence and to act in the public interest.

In four years we’ve achieved a lot between us. I believe we’ve changed the place fundamentally and I hope that those changes will last beyond me. The BBC has always been a great organisation but I hope that, over the last four years, I’ve helped to make it a more human place where everyone who works here feels appreciated. If that’s anywhere near true I leave contented, if sad.

Thank you all for the help and support you’ve given me. This might sound a bit schmaltzy but I really will miss you all. I’ve enjoyed the last four years more than any other time in my working life.

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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #1 - Jan 29th, 2004, 3:41pm
 
Statement by Lord Ryder, acting Chairman of the BBC

Greg Dyke, the BBC Director-General, has tendered his resignation to the Board of Governors and this has been accepted.

The Governors have appointed Mark Byford Acting Director-General.

Mark will retain responsibility for all pre and post broadcast programme compliance as announced with his appointment as Deputy Director-General in December 2003.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has announced that the process for appointing a new Chairman will begin shortly.

I have agreed to be the Acting Chairman, and I shall not be putting forward my name for the position on a permanent basis.

The appointment of Director-General is solely a matter for the BBC's Board of Governors.

Both roles are essential to a strong and independent BBC and it is important that the vacancies created by the departures of Gavyn Davies and Greg Dyke are filled as soon as possible and with due care.

The BBC operates only in the interests of the public.

Gavyn Davies and Greg Dyke served the public with strong, dynamic leadership.

Both will be greatly missed by the Board of Governors, the Executive Committee and the management and staff with whom they worked.

The manner of their departures demonstrates the integrity of both men. The whole Corporation owes them a debt of thanks and they deserve enormous credit for their dedication and contributions to the BBC over the last few years.

Finally, on behalf of the Board, I want to express my thanks to the staff of the BBC for their continued commitment to the principles of public service broadcasting and especially to those with the vital task of reporting the Hutton Inquiry outcome accurately and impartially.
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #2 - Jan 29th, 2004, 3:43pm
 
Statement by Mark Byford, Acting Director General :

I would first like to pay tribute to Greg Dyke and his tenure as Director-General. Like all colleagues in the BBC I am shocked and saddened at his departure.

Greg has brought tremendous dynamism, energy and drive and is hugely respected by all the staff at all levels throughout the organisation and is recognised for his warmth, integrity and talent.

I recognise it is now my task as Acting Director-General to lead the organisation through what is a very turbulent period.

We must now study the Hutton report carefully, learn appropriate lessons and implement relevant measures.

The BBC must provide high quality, independent, impartial journalism, recognised for its accuracy, fairness and objectivity.

It must be recognised in the UK and around the world for trusted, reliable, authoritative news; intelligent discussion and debate; and courageous investigative journalism set within a rigorous and robust editorial framework.

Creativity is the heart of the organisation and we must strive to promote high quality, innovation and ambition in all we do, serving audiences as a beacon of public service broadcasting.

I believe passionately in the values of the BBC and its role. As Acting Director-General I will lead it to the very best of my ability together with an outstanding team of colleagues.

My Executive Committee team also want to put on record their affection for Greg and their great admiration for all he has achieved as Director-General. They, too, are very sad to see him go but understand and accept his decision.

As an Executive, we are now united in looking forward to working with the Board of Governors to ensure the BBC emerges from this difficult time a strong, independent and vibrant organisation, building on the legacy Greg has left behind.
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #3 - Jan 29th, 2004, 9:26pm
 
Hundreds of staff gathered outside BBC offices throughout the UK to show support for Greg Dyke.
As he left Broadcasting House for the last time he answered questions from a scrum of reporters.  He insisted he had resigned, rather than been kicked out.  And he said he did not necessarily agree with Lord Hutton's findings.  He would talk about this at a later stage, he said.
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #4 - Jan 30th, 2004, 10:09am
 
Interesting take on all this in a piece  by Anthony Barnett in OpenDemocracy.
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #5 - Feb 1st, 2004, 11:48am
 
Gregy Dyke told David Frost more about the circumstances of his going, in "Breakfast with Frost".  He made it clear he was told to go:

"I said [to the governors]: 'But I do need your confidence. If I haven't got your confidence, I can't stay'.

"At that stage I left the room. An hour or so later I discovered that they had decided to suggest I leave. I'd offered it - that was it."

He also described sections of the Hutton Report as being "in cuckooland"
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #6 - Feb 2nd, 2004, 10:01am
 
According to The Times (Monday February 2) Greg Dyke is planning a legal challenge to the Hutton Report.
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #7 - Feb 3rd, 2004, 9:47pm
 
Later, according to the Guardian he thought better of it.
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #8 - Feb 9th, 2004, 9:51am
 
Tom Mangold, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, is glad to see the back of Greg Dyke.
Mangold admits he is biased.  He was a Panorama reporter and he resents the way Dyke allowed the programme "to decay in the Sunday graveyard slot."
John Birt, on the other hand, had said to Mangold:  "Panorama is safe with me".  And it was.
So, Mangold misses the "Birtian standards of public service broadcasting."
He is scathing about Dyke's abilities, calling him "unskilled in the politics of journalism" and driven by audience ratings.  Dyke, he says, is "more Max Miller than Lord Reith."
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Re: Now Dyke goes
Reply #9 - Feb 16th, 2004, 12:11pm
 
Former Chairman Sir Christopher Bland has written to the Sunday Telegraph to object to Mangold's piece.  He says:

Tom Mangold's attack on Greg Dyke, the former director-general of the
BBC, was mean-spirited, patronising and unjustified "Nation shall speak
unto nation", Review, February 8. His extraordinary use of outdated and
muddled metaphors, "a captain who spent more time in the boiler room than
the bridge", "he should have spent more time in the officers' mess than
in the Naafi canteen", demonstrated that he neither understood nor could
tolerate the idea of a director-general who was actually liked by the
organisation he led - including, perish the thought, by secretaries.

The BBC has paid a heavy price, post-Hutton, through losing a good
chairman and a good director-general. Mr Mangold's vindictive, I-told-you-
so rejoicing over the problems of an organisation that employed him for
many years was deeply unattractive.
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