Ryder
Posted on 01/29/2004 7:04:09 PM PST by Pikamax
Drama outside. Disarray inside. The governors force out Dyke
Matt Wells, media correspondent Friday January 30, 2004 The Guardian
The director general of the BBC, Greg Dyke, was effectively forced out of his job yesterday after the corporation's governors, stunned by criticism in the Hutton report, lost their nerve in the face of intense political pressure.
Mr Dyke's resignation follows that of the chairman, Gavyn Davies, on Wednesday. The departure of the BBC's two most senior executives in as many days has propelled the corporation into its most serious crisis since its formation 82 years ago.
It prompted extraordinary scenes of hundreds of staff walking out in support of their deposed chief in offices across the country.
Mr Dyke reluctantly agreed to quit after he realised that he had lost the majority backing of the board. Robbed of his key ally, Mr Dyke realised that he did not enjoy their support.
"Without Gavyn, he didn't have a chance," said one friend, who described the governors as being in a state of panic.
A senior BBC executive said: "They were rabbits stuck in front of the headlights. These are people who are not used to taking the heat."
But if Downing Street was expecting contrition from Mr Dyke they were mistaken. Within hours of his departure he was touring the television studios defending his conduct and questioning Lord Hutton's conclusions. He told BBC1's 10 o'clock news: "I don't necessarily accept the findings of Lord Hutton."
He appeared surprised at the "unreserved apology" by acting chairman Lord Ryder minutes after his resignation was announced.
"I couldn't quite work out what they were apologising for," he said.
The news of Mr Dyke's effective dismissal prompted at least 1,000 BBC employees to begin to walk out. There were demonstrations in London, York, Glasgow, Derry, Guernsey, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Belfast, Swindon, Cardiff and Manchester. One local radio station, BBC Somerset Sound, shut down for a minute in protest at Mr Dyke's resignation and what staff called the "abject" apology from the BBC.
Mr Dyke was given a hero's welcome when he arrived to say goodbye to staff at Television Centre in west London. In a leaving speech, delivered impromptu from on top of a desk, he made clear his fear that the BBC was now vulnerable to political bullying.
"I may have made mistakes but what we have been trying to do is defend the independence and integrity of our journalism. That's what matters most about the BBC," he said.
Mr Dyke appealed to staff not to lose heart. "Do not be cowed. Make sure we are right. Be fair. But don't let anyone pressurise you."
Mr Dyke's departure came after Downing Street tightened the squeeze on the BBC in response to Lord Hutton's criticism of the corporation's "defective" editorial systems and poor management.
In the 11am lobby briefing the prime minister's spokesman insisted that the statement made by Mr Dyke on Wednesday after the publication of the report "does not amount to a considered statement from the BBC governors, and that's what we need".
Two hours later Mr Dyke announced his resignation.
Senior BBC journalists made clear their anxieties about the preservation of the corporation's editorial independence. There was concern at the decision of the acting chairman, the former Tory chief whip Richard Ryder, to issue an "unreserved" apology for the failings identified in the Hutton report.
The Guardian has learned that staff from the documentaries and factual departments are to pay for a newspaper advertisement in which they will praise Mr Dyke and call for the BBC to continue making programmes that "cause trouble" for the government - a clear shot across the bows of Lord Ryder, who is on record as saying the journalism of the BBC Today programme should report the news, not make it.
Peter Horrocks, the head of current affairs at the BBC, said in an email to staff that the resignations were "shocking for all of us". He went on: "You will probably have concerns about the future role of original journalism in the BBC. I believe that these resignations and the BBC's further apology today will allow us to preserve the BBC's commitment to original journalism."
Details have emerged of disarray at senior levels in the BBC over the past two days. On Wednesday Mr Davies told the BBC's political editor, Andrew Marr, of his decision to resign; Marr immediately broadcast the news on BBC News 24, just after Mr Dyke had made a statement in which he hoped a line could be drawn under the affair.
It was also clear the governors were determined the BBC should issue an unreserved apology in the light of Lord Hutton's findings; some BBC sources say Mr Dyke would have had no stomach for a climbdown.
Mr Dyke tendered his resignation at a sombre meeting of the governors on Wednesday night; the announcement was not made until yesterday morning.
Later in the day Tony Blair and his former communications chief, Alastair Campbell, said the apology was sufficient to draw a line under the row.
More whining from the Gramscians caught out by the facts.
Ryder
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