BBC chief Samir Shah has full board support amid Trump chaos
BBC chief Samir Shah has the full backing of the board after coming under pressure over his handling of Michael Prescott’s bombshell memo, which exposed the failed programme. panorama Edit of Donald Trump’s January 6 speech.
Caroline Thompson, the BBC’s independent director, said Shah had the “unanimous” support of the corporation’s board. Thompson revealed her support during a Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing on Monday, telling British lawmakers: “We are very lucky to have him.”
Thompson said Shah’s support was reiterated on Friday evening, shortly after board member Shomit Banerjee resigned over governance concerns. Shah said he was “disappointed and surprised” that Banerjee’s resignation letter was leaked to BBC News.
Shah was questioned on Monday over his slow reaction to Prescott’s memo, which was circulated to the BBC board in October and leaked to The Daily Telegraph In early November. He lifted the lid on internal disagreements that led to a week-long delay between the appearance of Trump’s amendment Telegraph The BBC addresses the error in any detail.
Shah confirmed that BBC News bosses wanted to apologize for not placing the edit mark more clearly in panorama film, but the board blocked this because they felt it failed to address the basic impression the amendment gave: that Trump was inciting violence. Thompson, the BBC’s chief independent director, told lawmakers there was a “sharp disagreement” with Deborah Turness, chief executive of BBC News, who maintained the “reshuffle was justified”.
Shah repeatedly admitted that the BBC should have addressed concerns about Trump’s amendment when it was discussed by the board’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee in May. He said: “We should have followed the matter until the end, and not waited until it became a public discourse.”
Shah, a former freelance producer who produced current affairs programs at the BBC, said BBC News chief executive Torness’ resignation was an “honorable act” but the board did not support Tim Davie’s decision to stand down. He added: “I hoped, and the Board of Directors hopes, that the General Director had not resigned.”
Looking to the future, Shah said: “My job now is to steady the ship, to set it straight. I’m not someone who runs away from a problem. I think my job now is to fix it.” He added that his most important task was to appoint a successor to Davie, with a job advert for a new general manager now published. Shah said the job was “too big for one person” and that the board wanted to consider appointing a deputy general manager who would be “strongly focused” on journalism.
Right-wing coup is ‘ridiculous’
Elsewhere during the lengthy hearing, board member Robbie Gibb dismissed “ridiculous” claims that he was at the heart of a right-wing coup at the BBC. The theory took hold among BBC staff and was raised by the left-wing media after Gibb, a former BBC journalist and Theresa May’s former communications secretary, was appointed to the board by Boris Johnson.
“It’s one of the most ridiculous charges,” Gibb told deputies. “It’s complete nonsense. It’s also very insulting to his fellow board members, who are people of great standing in various fields. I’m not even sure what the charge is, other than to say it’s complete nonsense.” “I certainly wouldn’t characterize anything I’ve seen in the last two weeks as a boardroom coup,” Thompson added.