UK

Expert assessment: appointing directors of public media

It is true that the BBC's director general is appointed by the BBC Trust—and this system has in fact been criticised as being vulnerable to political influence. The BBC Trust is the highest decision-making body of the BBC system; it is composed of 12 members appointed by the Queen on advice from Government ministers following an open selection process.74 The BBC Trust appoints the Executive Board's director general, who also acts as editor-in-chief of the BBC, and approves nominations for non-executive members of the Executive Board. The Executive Board is responsible for operational management of the BBC according to the plans agreed with by the BBC Trust.75 The BBC Trust and Executive Board are independent bodies, both governed by a Royal Charter that serves as the BBC's constitutional foundation.76 The Charter formally establishes the BBC's autonomy from the Government.77 However, there have been several controversies over the BBC's programming and political independence which has been related to the system of BBC appointments and overall governance structure.

The BBC Trust and the Executive Board were established in 2007, replacing the BBC's former Board of Governors. The Trust is comprised of a chairman, vice chairman and 10 members, including four members from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust is responsible for setting the overall strategic direction for the BBC, including approving high-level strategies and budgets for the BBC's services, and assessing the performance of the Executive Board in delivering the BBC's services. The Trust is accountable to the license-fee payers (the public) and not to Parliament. Whenever the Trust makes a major decision it has to conduct public consultations, audience research and consult with its Audience Councils, which include audience members who advise the BBC Trust on how well the BBC is delivering its services to the public.78 The BBC Trust has also launched a public value test (PVT), intended to assess the net public value and to ensure that the BBC's operations satisfy its obligations to the public.

The BBC Executive Board is responsible for the daily management of the BBC, including the direction of its editorial programming. The Executive Board is composed of executive and non-executive members, headed by a chairperson who also serves as the director general and the editor-in-chief of the BBC. As noted above, there have been some controversies over perceived influence, direct and indirect, by the British Government over the BBC Trust and BBC programming. The Hutton inquiry in 2003, which investigated the circumstances surrounding

the death of David Kelly,79 sparked widespread criticism of the BBC, including the decision of the governing body of the BBC (then the BBC governors, since reformed into the BBC Trust) to sack the director general of the BBC over the Hutton affair and apologise to the British Government for its handling of the affair.80 The BBC had also been criticised in more general terms for its coverage of the Iraq war and its aftermath, which critics say was too supportive of the Government's position. In 2007, the Lords Select Committee on Communications produced a report that stated that the selection process of the chairperson of the BBC Trust (who at the time was Sir Michael Lyons) was too prone to governmental influence.81

73 See "Criticism 9" in "Criticisms and answers formulated on the subject of the proposed media act examined in a European context," Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, December 20, 2010 available at: http://www.kormany.hu/en/ministry-of-public-administration-and-justice/news/criticisms-and-answers-formulated-on-the-subject-of-the-proposed-media-act-examined-in-a-european-context.
74 "How Trustees are appointed," from the BBC Web site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/who_we_are/trustees/appointment.shtml.
75 "About the BBC: Executive Board," from the BBC Web site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/running/executive/
76 Broadcasting: Copy of Royal Charter for the continuance of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, October 2006, http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/how_we_govern/charter.pdf
77 See Article 6 of the Royal Charter.
78 See "BBC Protocol, F3 – Audience Councils," the BBC Trust, December 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/protocols/2011/f3_audience_councils.pdf
79 The Hutton Inquiry, Investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. David Kelly, http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk.
80 BBC News, BBC apologises as Dyke quits, 29 January 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3441181.stm.
81 House of Lords, Select Committee on Communications, First Report, 25 July 2007, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldselect/ldcomuni/171/17102.htm.