UK: BBC chairman pledges restraint, accountability
The chairman of the BBC Trust has sought to deflect continued attacks on the BBC by media rivals and politicians, declaring that tighter controls on salaries and editorial standards showed that his organisation was being responsive to criticism.
In an interview with The Guardian, Sir Michael Lyons said that the BBC Trust - the public broadcaster's governing body - had failed in the past to establish a tight "grip" on what was happening within the BBC. In the process, he acknowledged two key issues that have emerged consistently in public debate about the public broadcaster's role: a perceived relaxation of editorial standards, and the salaries of executives and personalities.
"The BBC relaxed both its editorial grip and its grip on value for money. And to some extent the challenge of recent years has been to reassert that grip and that focus on value for money, particularly in how much you pay to top managers and onscreen talent.
Sir Michael said that measures had already been taken to curb excessive pay packages, pointing to the freezing of executive bonuses and saying that in future, the BBC would not engage in bidding wars with commercial rivals for the industry's top talent.
"We are simply not going to see what the public regard as excessive salaries, so we must be harder in negotiations and much more willing to walk away," he said.
But critics of the BBC remain vocal. In the same edition of The Guardian the former chairman of Channel 4 joined other industry figures in attacking the BBC's size and political influence. Describing the BBC as "the single most influential lobbying organisation in Britain", Luke Johnson said that it had become a corporation dedicated to preserving its funding at whatever cost.
"Whether it is backbench MPs on BBC local radio, print journalists on its payroll, ministers on the Today programme, tickets to the Proms or Wimbledon or Glastonbury, when its £3.5bn 'Jacuzzi of cash' is threatened, the entire machine dedicates itself to seeing off any rival – rather like Doctor Who and the Daleks joining forces to destroy the ultimate enemy.
"The favours are gently called in, the army of public affairs staff get to work, and self-preservation on steroids kicks in."
Channel 4 is a public service broadcaster but is commercially self-funded, having failed to gain government support despite several proposals. In 2007, the government agreed to pay the channel £14 million over six years to finance the switchover to digital television, but later reversed its decision.
Additionally, proposals to redistribute some of the BBC licence fee to other broadcasters - levied on households for the exclusive purpose of funding the BBC's operations - have been met with forceful pushback from the BBC itself.
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