22 November, 2008

UK: BBC: Ross

We have now received the report of the BBC Trust. It appears that the BBC had lent a producer to the private company Vanity Productions which produced the Radio 2 show. BBC management relied on this man's judgment while he of course was following the instructions of Vanity Productions. This is a management failure and management must be held accountable.

Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, when asked if further action would be taken against Jonathan Ross, said that ' It is not the job of the trust to make decisions about the terms and conditions of performers or the sanctions that are applied to them' but in the next breath said '"We are very clear that the director general has taken the right action with respect to Jonathan Ross."

Well, it's one thing, or the other. Either he has a view on Ross' suspension as a punishment, or he isn't allowed a view. It seems to me that Sir Michael, a Labour Party apparatchik who said he would be completely independent, believes poor Rossy has suffered enough.

Charles Moore, who edited the Telegraph in the days when it was a Conservative newspaper, says he won't pay his licence fee renewal if Ross is still working for the BBC

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