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We're doomed! (Read 3197 times)
Dickie Mint
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We're doomed!
Feb 1st, 2021, 1:29pm
 
God help the BBC!

Paul Dacre set to be announced as Ofcom chair

Quote:
UK prime minister Boris Johnson is set to appoint former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre as the chair of broadcast regulator Ofcom.

News first circulated linking Dacre to the job in September 2020, but a new report from The Guardian claims that the outspoken champion of Brexit could be announced soon.

The 72-year-old Dacre, currently editor in chief of Daily Mail Group, has made no secret of his right-wing politics during his career. This is likely to put him in conflict with the politically neutral position of Ofcom.

While the government recently dropped its plans to decriminalise non-payment of the TV licence fee, critics have said that Dacre’s appointment would be a continuation of the prime minister’s long-term plan to radically reshape the face of broadcasting in the country. The report specifically states that Dacre will be handed a remit “to target the BBC.”

The left-leaning Guardian cited one ‘leading figure in British TV management’ who called the appointment “an appalling idea,” while also making reference to comments from former Labour minister Lord Adonis who said that Dacre “doesn’t believe in impartiality and statutorily regulated media.”

Along with looking to reform the funding model of the BBC, members of Johnson’s government have been highly critical of the broadcaster. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden last year launched a political attack on the BBC, telling the crowd at a Telegraph-arranged conference that the broadcaster lacks “diversity of thought” and “genuine impartiality.”

While Johnson is said to be rushing through with the appointment of Dacre, the report says that there is still some resistance to the appointment from within the government.
Should he be appointed, Dacre will be tasked with picking apart the BBC which itself has received a Tory-supporting chairman in the form of Richard Sharp. Sharp, who will take up the job in the coming days, has been a historic donor to the Conservative party to the tune of more than £400,000.
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Richard
 
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Dickie Mint
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Re: We're doomed!
Reply #1 - Feb 14th, 2021, 11:51am
 
Even worse,

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/feb/14/murdoch-journalist-given-key-voice...
Quote:
A senior journalist with a leading role in Rupert Murdoch’s Times group of British newspapers has been given a key voice in deciding who is to chair Ofcom, Britain’s national broadcasting regulator that is tasked with holding the BBC to account.

Paul Potts, who was appointed two years ago as an independent director of Times Newspapers Holdings, is now also the government’s “senior independent panel member” who will help pick the successor to Terry Burns at the head of the body that rules on standards and is to shape the future of public service broadcasting in the digital age.

Potts, who led the newswire service Press Association for 10 years until 2010, is also a friend and former business associate of the minister for media and data, John Whittingdale, a man whom government sources said had a declared intention “to whack” the BBC. The pair were board directors of the South West News Service together until Whittingdale became culture secretary in 2015.

Indications that Boris Johnson and his government aim ultimately to appoint Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, as chair of Ofcom caused alarm last month among those who fear a concerted attack on the BBC’s unique status and funding.

Dacre, still editor-in-chief of the Mail group, has spoken sceptically about the value of a regulated media.

Potts also comes from a newspaper group with a management that has a vested interest in the future basis of BBC operations.

As an independent director he has no executive function at Times Newspapers, but sits on the board.

Media academic Jean Seaton, who wrote an official history of the BBC, is one of those unhappy about the appointment of Potts.

“In what way is a Times man independent on the question of the regulation of British broadcasting?” Seaton asked. “Those newspapers aren’t. And the Times proprietor understandably isn’t.”

Applications for the job of chairing Ofcom, as the public face of the regulator at the head of a board of 12, will close at the end of next month. The chair, who will be paid £142,500 for up to three days’ work a week, is responsible for the regulator’s strategy and independence, while “ensuring Ofcom has regard to the secretary of state’s wider strategic policies”, according to the Cabinet Office.

After Potts and the rest of his panel, yet to be announced, have sifted candidates and held a final interview at the end of April, the chosen names will go forward to government for consideration. A successful candidate will then have to go before a public meeting of the Department of Culture, Media and Sports select committee, with members drawn from across the House of Commons.

Ofcom has a budget of £131.9m for the current financial year, and its principal duty, according to the job specification, is “to further the interests of citizens and consumers, where appropriate, by promoting competition” in broadcasting and communications technology.

The body is also taking on new regulating duties this year covering video sharing platforms, and upcoming legislation later this year is intended to allow it to regulate on the issue of online harms.

Maggie Carver has been interim chair for a year, stepping in when Burns agreed to go. Melanie Dawes, the wife of Benedict Brogan, political editor of the Daily Mail under Dacre, has been chief executive since last February.

Advertising the job, the DCMS underlines its commitment to diverse appointments representative of British society. It welcomes applications from women, those with a disability, and those from a black or ethnic minority background.


Hopefully the advent of GBNews and UKNews will show them the error of their ways in trying to get rid of the been!
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Richard
 
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Burstner55
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Re: We're doomed!
Reply #2 - Feb 14th, 2021, 5:40pm
 
You say GOD HELP THE BBC" but surely Murdoch IS God?  He may as well be, considering how many people worship in his church. (Here, in the US, Germany and Australia). I think we have to face up to a time, maybe when many of us are past caring, when the media cathedral of the BBC comes tumbling down like the walls of Jericho. With Cronyism the new creed there seems very little we can do but face the Wailing Wall and weep. Those inhabitants of the UK who are "the future" seem not to care a jot. So why should WE?
As an aside, I worked alongside, though in competition with,  Paul Potts when he was a fresh faced municipal reporter in his home city. His ruthless ambition shone through even then. His rise was meteoric. You have to admire his  story...rags to riches and CBE. But he's 71 now. Can he still pull it off?
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apcwmwl
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Re: We're doomed!
Reply #3 - Feb 15th, 2021, 12:54pm
 
It's not just the BBC which under threat. The current legislation as enforced by OfCom takes no account of the plethora of streamlining networks who make no contribution to the UK economy. Last week's Amol Rajan Interview with ITV CEO Dame Carolyn McCall and her analysis of the future of FTA broadcasting makes very clear the challenges faced. Her comments are insightful and a little scary. Would that the BBC could get together with all its UK FTA colleagues and come up with a united front to present to the political purse holders of our society.
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« Last Edit: Feb 15th, 2021, 5:51pm by apcwmwl »  
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