|
Last Updated: Monday, 8 November, 2004, 18:27
GMT
No surprises in BBC's Graf response
By Torin Douglas
BBC Media correspondent Philip Graf
The BBC is acting on Philip Graf's recommendations So the BBC is to close down more of its websites, divert 10 per cent of its online budget to sites offering greater "public value", and hive off 25 % of its online production to the independent sector. It's all part of the "radical change" taking place
at the BBC, spelled out today by the BBC chairman Michael Grade at the CBI
conference and published in
the BBC governors' response to the Graf Report reviewing its online services. Radical it may be, but surprising it really
ain't.
The changes announced today - including a much
tighter list of objectives for bbc.co.uk - were heavily foreshadowed on the day
Philip Graf's report came
out in July. Mr Graf said the BBC should focus more clearly on
its public service content and some of its sites weren't sufficiently
distinctive from the commercial
alternatives. BBC Soap
The Pure Soap site closed after the Graf Report The BBC immediately said it agreed and announced the closure of five sites, including those providing fantasy football and gossip about soaps. That was the moment it became clear that Michael
Grade and his new director-general Mark Thompson meant business and were intent
on the "radical change"
agenda. For the BBC was studying a pre-publication copy of
the Graf Report as it was preparing its Charter Review document, Building Public
Value, and its initial
response to Graf was designed to show things really were changing. The BBC's online strategy has become the touchstone
of its new policies - a greater focus on "public value" content, more specific
objectives and better
accountability, a greater proportion of independent production, and a closer working relationship with commercial partners and, indeed, competitors. "We want to make the BBC a friendlier, less
arrogant partner for other players in this market" Michael Grade told his
business audience in Birmingham. Not
before time, they'll have said. Michael Grade
Michael Grade said the BBC must provide value for money For online is the area where the BBC's commercial competitors have been most outspoken about what they see as a publicly-subsidised, largely unfettered 800lb gorilla (the metaphor of choice this year, for many senior broadcasting executives), trampling fledgling internet start-ups underfoot. It's a caricature, of course, but one which has
rung bells with magazine publishers and the BBC's other rivals in radio and
television.
And now everyone is aware that the BBC is preparing
for change, with a series of internal reviews of the way it is run.
There've been reports in newspapers and websites of
a possible 6,000 job cuts out of 27,000, of major networks and departments
moving out of London, of
a higher quota of independent productions and the sell-off of some of the BBC's commercial businesses. Today Mr Grade endorsed such change, while
emphasising that he did not intend to pre-empt the reviews' detailed
findings.
Governors' independence
And though he did not mention job cuts, the
implication was there: "The results of the value for money review are likely to
require the BBC to do some difficult
things. "This will not be comfortable. But it will be
done."
He also agreed with the Culture Secretary Tessa
Jowell that the current system of BBC governance was "unsustainable", which is
why the governors were taking
steps to distance themselves from the BBC's management and emphasis their independence. For that reason, he said, they were going to move
to separate premises: "Our independence from management will be underlined by
the powerful symbolism of
physical separation.". PAUL DAVID
Chairman, Brent Visually-Handicapped Group Registered Charity No.: 272955 |
_______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list Swprograms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to swprograms-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above.