BBC Trust Needs Non-Exec Chairman says CRCA Boss

Paul Brown, Chief Executive of the Commercial Radio Companies Association, led a call this morning for the BBC’s Executive Board, responsible for the day-to-day running of the corporation, to be chaired by a non-executive chairman, and for the BBC Trust – which replaces the Governors – to be chaired by someone other than the Chairman of the BBC.

Speaking on a panel at the Westminster Media Forum today, Brown formed part of a group discussing the implementation of the Corporation’s new governance structure, outlined in the Government’s green paper, published earlier this year (see Governors Axed As BBC Charter Renewed For 10 Years).

“The Trust should speak for licence fee payers, not for the BBC ,” he said. “It is a failing of the green paper not to insist on a non-executive chair to the Trust.”

Brown went on to state that the Trust should be able to recommend a withdrawal or reduction in operations by the BBC from certain areas of business, not simply to review new opportunities for their relevance.

The radio chief’s comments about the Trust chairmanship were taken up by Stewart Purvis, former chief executive of ITN, who said this was a “key point,” and cited the Scott Trust, owners of the Guardian as an example of how the Corporation’s new structure could be modelled, with the owners and operators effectively separated.

Jon Zeff, head of broadcast policy at the Department for Culture Media and Sport responded from the panel, however, stating that the BBC was a “unique case.”

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk