Wordblog

In its quiet and measured way the House of Lords Communications Committee report on the Chairmanship of the BBC is a devastating document. While it has a narrow focus on the chairmanship it makes a much broader comment in hoping that "in the long term the Government will address the democratic deficit that exists over the BBC".

Here are a few short extracts from the report on the new BBC structure:

The new governance arrangements and the wording of article 10 of the Royal Charter bring into question who is ultimately responsible for the BBC’s programming decisions….

The Chairman of the BBC Trust has a specific remit to represent the licence fee payer. We wonder whose remit it is to represent the BBC’s own interests when they differ from those of the licence fee payer? Would Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the Trust be able to defend the BBC as robustly as Gavyn Davies did if similar events were to occur under his watch?….

We question whether it is consistent that management are responsible for  “ensuring the culture of the BBC properly reflects the requirements of a public institution” when the BBC Trust is responsible for representing the interests of the licence fee payers….

The Committee complains about the difficulty in getting details of how Sir Michael was appointed either from the minister responsible, Shaun Woodward, or the Department of Culture Media and Sport. "If it was this difficult for a Select Committee to find out what happened then it would have been near impossible for the average licence fee payer," the report says.

The committee calls for a more transparent appointment process with a selection panel with a majority of non-political members and chaired by someone who is neither political nor a civil servant. Only one name should be submitted to the minister for appointment and the the proposed chairman should be vetted by parliament.

Lord Fowler, chairman of the Lords committee, said:

The independence of the BBC is of paramount importance to its viewers and listeners.Recent history shows that it is possible for the Government of the day to come into conflict with the BBC. Yet Government Ministers have considerable powers over the selection of the Chairman of the BBC.

We think these powers should be limited. Parliament is the only undoubted representative of the licence fee payer and should have a greater role.

The response of the Government will be interesting but don’t hold your breath for it to give up  the power it has so recently won.