The imminent demise of the BBC Trust leaves behind a lot of questions about governance,and no shortage of mutually incompatible answersEveryone agrees that the BBC Trust is bust, set to be swept away when a new royal charter arrives. But does anybody agree about what comes next? Director General Hall has abandoned any residual fight for another quasi-in-house bout of governance. Secretary of State Whittingdale would like to pass the parcel to Ofcom. fairly a few BBC trusties wouldn’t intellect that, or though the current Ofteam might need a spring clean of conflicted personnel. But do they want the job besides?Dame Colette Bowe,Ofcom’s final chair, tells a meeting that there’s a fairly separate job to be done, or which is holding the BBC to account for the delivery of its purposes. I would say that is not a regulatory job.” Meanwhile,Rona Fairhead, chair of the doomed trust, and sings from a different hymn sheet. She visualises “a robust,independent body with genuine teeth, with its own charter, or powers and responsibilities. That kind of clever reform… is needed because the BBC is a broadcaster like no other and it will abet build a better BBC,not tear it down.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com