Grade Takes Chairman’s Role At BBC

The Government’s decision to appoint Grade from a shortlist of DCMS recommendations comes slightly against the odds. Grade is seen as something of an independent spirit, with no particular affiliation with the Government or any political party. Some commentators have speculated that his appointment is a concession by the Government to avoid the inevitable criticisms should it have selected a Labour ‘crony’.

Commenting on securing the chairman’s position, Grade said: “Apart from my obvious pride and delight, I also feel my experience has prepared me to step into the role at a difficult moment in the Corporation’s history. It is my job, and the job of the whole board, to ensure that the BBC can continue to earn public and parliamentary support so that universally available, value for money, public service broadcasting is neither jeopardised nor marginalised.”

Despite his long history in broadcasting, Grade is regarded by some as a maverick operator, unafraid of controversy. He was labelled ‘pornographer-in-chief’ by the Daily Mail during his time at the helm of Channel 4.

His appointment to the chairman’s position, which was vacated by Gavyn Davies in January, appears to be garnering cautious welcome in the advertising industry.

The IPA says that whilst it applauds the decision to appoint a TV professional capable of rebuilding morale in the Corporation, it is concerned that the populist approach taken by former director general Greg Dyke should not continue to dominate the BBC’s output. The IPA has long been a vociferous opponent of what it sees as rampant commercialism in the BBC.

“Michael is a consummate professional but, in the past, he has also been a populist as regards programming. After the competitiveness of Greg Dyke, the BBC must return to a stricter and more tightly focused public service remit – it remains to be seen if Michael Grade has the appetite to do this,” said IPA chairman Jim Marshall.

Andrew Canter, broadcast director at Media Planning Group, concurs: “I would like to see the BBC going back to their public service remit, not aggressively going after audience share and ratings; scheduling in a complementary way rather than a conflicting way, certainly against ITV.”

Canter believes that Grade may take the Corporation in this direction, saying: “He did start at the BBC, he has worked there before, so he is certainly not as commercial as Greg Dyke would have been. It’s certainly a key appointment in that respect. I think that, running up to charter renewal, he will be foolish to go down too much of a commercial route, given what has happened in the last couple of months.”

Grade’s first task is to appoint a new director general to replace Greg Dyke. Less than two hours after being appointed, Grade announced that he will scrap all progress made towards appointing the new DG and restart the applications from scratch. This is in reaction to several high profile media figures having declined to apply for the post.

It is believed that Grade will now attempt to lure these industry figures back into the selection process. Probable candidates include acting BBC director general Mark Byford and director of radio Jenny Abramsky, although many more names are likely to be added to the list once the process recommences.

Grade and the incoming DG join the BBC at a difficult time, as it is left reeling from the damning criticisms of the Hutton report. Commentators say that strict disciplinary processes set in place following Hutton are having a detrimental effect on morale at the Corporation.