This is taken from the FT:


BBC to lay off deputy director general

By Ben Fenton, Chief Media Correspondent

Last updated: October 11 2010 20:00

The BBC is to make its second in command redundant and slash its 10-strong
executive board as it confronts accusations of excessive management
salaries, according to people who have seen the plans.



Mark Thompson, director general, will announce on Tuesday that Mark Byford,
his deputy and a BBC employee for 32 years, is to lose his job and will not
be replaced.



A senior BBC executive described Mr Thompson’s move as a “fulfilment of the
promise to slim down management structure”.

The corporation has been heavily criticised for being top-heavy with highly
paid managers.

In August Mr Thompson brought forward by a year a pledge to
reduce senior managerial costs by 25 per cent.



In addition to Mr Byford’s departure, Sharon Baylay, head of marketing and
communications, and Lucy Adams, human resources director, will leave the
board, retaining their roles but reporting to Caroline Thomson, the chief
operating officer.

A third member of the board may follow, a person close to
the BBC said.

Mr Byford, 52, whose salary of £475,000 attracted criticism from politicians
and rival media commentators alike, will receive a redundancy payment of 12
months’ salary and a long period in lieu of notice. The total package will
be worth between £800,000 and £900,000, a BBC insider said.



The departure of the genial, Yorkshire-born deputy director general will 
come as a surprise to staff. It will be seen as a considerable sacrifice by
the BBC, for he has often stood in as a bulwark against tough times for the
organisation.



In 2004, when Greg Dyke resigned as director general over government
complaints that the BBC had misreported the official justification for going
to war in Iraq the previous year, Mr Byford acted in an interim role for six
months until Mr Thompson was appointed.

His role has included running BBC
journalism, sport, and planning coverage of the Olympics in 2012.



Mr Byford has been a loyal lieutenant, taking control of the BBC’s response
to a series of scandals involving the abuse of public trust, such as
misleading editing of a 2007 documentary to suggest that the Queen had
stormed out of a photography session.



At the time, Ray Snoddy, the doyen of media commentators, wrote: “BBC 
folklore on crises is quite clear; when the worst happens, deputy heads must
roll.”

In an announcement to staff on Tuesday, Mr Thompson will heap praise on Mr
Byford, saying that he had “never had a closer or more supportive
relationship with any colleague”.


as the darkness falls ........he will rise again........maybe OFCOM ........Olympic cmmte...........Lord Byford....?

And this is Mark Thompson's email on the subject:

Dear all,

We are announcing this morning that, after a career at the BBC which has spanned more than thirty years and has included so many achievements on behalf of our audiences in the UK and around the world, my deputy Mark Byford is leaving the organisation.

Mark has played a critical role in recent years as the leader of all journalism across the BBC and has been an outstanding deputy to me and member of the Executive Board.  But as part of our commitment to spend as much of the licence fee as possible on content and services, we’ve been looking at management numbers and costs across the BBC, and that must include the most senior levels.

We have concluded - and Mark fully accepts - that the work he has done to develop our journalism and editorial standards across the BBC has achieved the goals we set to such an extent that the role of Deputy Director-General can now end, that the post should close at the end of the current financial year, and that Mark himself should be made redundant. From the start of the new financial year in April 2011, Helen Boaden in the existing role of Director of BBC News will move onto the Executive Board and will represent the interests of BBC journalism there.

Michael Grade once described Mark Byford as the “conscience of the BBC”.  Anyone who has worked with him - and there are thousands across the Corporation - will attest to his unfailing integrity and loyalty.  He has always stood for the highest standards in journalism but also in all his doings at the BBC.  But he has also played a central role over the years in modernising BBC journalism and grasping the promise of this new digital age.  I have never had a closer or more supportive relationship with any colleague and cannot begin to express my personal sense of gratitude to Mark for his honesty, steadfastness and energy.  I know many of you will feel the same.

Until these changes take effect in April next year, Mark will continue to fulfill all his present roles as both Deputy Director-General and the overall leader of BBC journalism.

All the best,

Mark Thompson

Administrator wrote on Oct 11^th, 2010, 7:45pm:


Er wasn't Greg Dyke FIRED by the gutless BBC board. Corect me if I'm wrong. But it's nice to see the Beeb shedding some of the suits. Long overdue. Best regards to all. David Shute