Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield is to be part of a panel advising the government about the future of the BBC.
New culture secretary John Whittingdale has appointed an eight-person panel of experts to advise him on the BBC charter renewal process which is due to be concluded next year.
Ashley, left, is a former BBC executive but has been critical of the scope of the BBC’s local online presence which some believe amounts to unfair competition for local newspapers.
He tweeted today: “Honoured to have been asked by @JWhittingdale to join team who will help decide the BBC’s future.”
The appointment comes as the government prepares to publish a green paper this week setting out the details of “root and branch” review of the BBC’s charter.
The panel’s membership has already led to speculation that the review will lead to curbs on the BBC’s local online presence, with some of the other panel members also having been critical of the corporation’s current structure and programming.
They include the former Channel 5 boss Dawn Airey, who has previously called on the BBC to consider erecting a paywall around its online output.
Also on the panel is Dame Colette Bowe, the former chairwoman of the broadcasting regulator Ofcom. Earlier this year she said that other media companies ought to be allowed to bid for a share of the BBC licence fee to support public service broadcasting.
Mr Whittingdale said: “Each member of the independent advisory group brings individual skills, experience and expertise. Together they will contribute to the oversight of the Government’s Review of the BBC Royal Charter. I look forward to working with them on this important issue.”
The panel is due to meet up to six times a year.
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That’s the end of the Beeb, then. In other news, Count Dracula has been appointed in an advisory capacity to the National Blood Transfusion Service.
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I was always told that the BBC is independent of the government, or is that kind of rhetoric meant only for people living in “emerging democracies” in the Third World and bordering the Russian Federation?
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Highfield is an excellent choice – he lost the licence payer £100 million on the Digital Media Initiative at the BBC,canned immediately by Tony Hall when he became DG. So who speaks on behalf of the ordinary viewer and listener ?
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A rise, Sir Ashley?
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Not much more Ashley can do at JP so a permanent job cutting costs at the BBC wouldn’t be at all surprising. This panel role will be just the start.
If he’s canny he’ll get out of JP fairly soon because it looks as though the shareholders have now realised that there are no staff left to cut and no offices left to sell and that the company isn’t worth investing in.
If you look at the share trades since the beginning of July it’s a sea of red with just a few purchases like £28 this morning. When you look at the thousands of shares being sold no amount of ‘exciting’ news is going to redeem the situation.
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Nice one, Ash.
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I hope he will be doing this in his own time.
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In BBC circles the DMI fiasco became known as ‘Don’t Mention It’… You’d think AH would have enough to do trying to make a success of JP without the distraction of the Beeb. That’s the trouble with Highfield: too many fingers in too many pies, such as the BFI, whilst for hard pressed loyal staff, JP is their sole concern. Having said that, how many loyal, capable staff has it left? For weeks now, the copy in a testimonial ad in the so-called prestigious YP Mag has begun … “OFF all the print advertising we’ve done …” AH has driven down quality, and taken jobs abroad: he shouldn’t be on a panel advising on the future of anything.
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Ashers is doing very nicely for himself. I am sure all JP employees (those that remain) are proud of him. Meet the new King Midas.
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Haha!
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I don’t think Mr Whittingdale likes the BBC much do you? The brazen manner in which the Tory party is aiming to shaft the Beeb is staggering. Of all the myriad urgent issues I hear folk fretting about on the state of the country, the licence fee isn’t among them.
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And about time too. the BBC charter has been stretched beyond recognition. A national news service should not be trying to provide local news, subsidised by tax, The service already exists in ultra local websites and regional newspapers and, without the BBC skewing the market into believing all content should be free, there’s every chance that these established institutions could earn a a few quid and start investing in content again. As an example, look at pay walls, an acceptable way to access news, in every jurisdiction that doesn’t have a tax funded broadcaster giving it away for nowt.
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If I were a BBC journalist Id’ be worried, very worried. He has proved at JP just how little respect or understanding he has of editorial departments and how little value he places on what they do.
On the bright side, if he’s off using his hatchet on the Beeb, perhaps he’ll be issuing fewer daft edicts at JP – like the other week when, having axed hundreds of staff photographers, he complained that too many stock filler pix were being used on the web.
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