Davies Says Sack Staff Don’t Pay Regulatory Fines

Chairman of the BBC, Gavyn Davies, has said that he would rather sack those responsible for breaking taste and decency codes than use licence fee payers money to pay regulatory fines.

Speaking at the Radio Academy’s annual Radio Festival in Cambridge this morning, Davies said that the BBC should not be subject to sanctions for infringing programming codes because it is not logical to fine the public for mistakes made by the BBC’s board of governors. He said: “Firing people is better than fining the public.”

However, Richard Hooper chair of the Radio Authority, disagreed saying: “If commercial broadcasters can be fined for breaking regulatory codes, surely the BBC should be too. Common standards require equal regulation.”

Davies also insisted that it would be impractical for the BBC’s public service remit to come under scrutiny from the new catch-all regulator, saying: “Ofcom is being designed to regulate the commercial sector and as such is not right for the BBC.”

Hooper again disagreed, arguing that it is “wrong” for the BBC’s public service remit to be left outside Ofcom’s regulation. He said: “Ofcom is being designed so that a converged media and communications world can be regulated by a converged regulator. It is not logical to leave the BBC out of this equation.”

Under the proposals laid out in the Government’s recently published Draft Communications Bill, certain aspects of the BBC will come under Ofcom control. However, the corporation’s key public service requirements will continue to be scrutinised by the corporation’s board of governors.

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