Lawmakers Grill BBC Insider Michael Prescott Over Bias, Mismanagement & Editorial Failings | APT - video Dailymotion

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In a revealing session with British lawmakers, Michael Prescott, author of a groundbreaking report on the BBC, faced tough questions about alleged bias, mismanagement, and editorial failings within the corporation.  In the hearing, Prescott addresses BBC’s defensive culture, criticism of the Panorama program and US presidential coverage for lack of balance, discussion of senior executive resignations, including Tim Davie, and their impact on the organization, and suggestions for leadership reforms to restore accountability and public trust.  #BBC #MichaelPrescott #UKPolitics #MediaBias #Journalism #Panorama #PublicTrust #EditorialFailings #UKParliament #MediaAccountability

Transcript

00:00Would you say it was defensive?

00:02Would you say one of its headlines would be that the BBC is defensive?

00:05Yes, I would.

00:06So, for example, another thing, I'm not being boring continually referring back to this memo,

00:13but another thing in my memo was that there's this strange episode

00:17where a group of Oxbridge historians calling themselves History Reclaimed said,

00:21look, every time there's this, not every time, I think they sample four or five programmes,

00:26but they said it's curious, because it was a carefully written report,

00:28they didn't over-claim, they were honest about the limited number of shows they'd watched,

00:33and they said, we do seem to notice a tendency that in all these shows,

00:37instead of getting the foremost historical expert in the field,

00:41they're getting people who are far more inexpert,

00:43and our suspicion is it's because they're giving them controversial quotes

00:47rather than the best take you could possibly get.

00:51And the BBC's, as per my report, I thought this was interesting and should be looked into,

00:57because History Reclaimed also had a very simple fix,

01:00which was could the BBC have another look at who they were inviting in from the field of historians

01:06to comment on these?

01:07That was it.

01:08Would the BBC listen?

01:10No.

01:11And, in fact, there were then formal complaints,

01:15I'm guessing from readers who'd seen that report,

01:17based on the report,

01:19and the BBC rejected them all,

01:20and accused History Reclaimed of cherry-picking in a very snotty fashion.

01:24Well, History Reclaimed didn't claim to be doing more than that.

01:26They said we've watched four or five problems.

01:28Might be a problem here.

01:29Could you take a look at it?

01:30The answer was formal findings.

01:32You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong.

01:33We're not talking to you.

01:35Extraordinary.

01:35Do you think the BBC's arrogant?

01:37I'm sorry?

01:38Do you think the BBC is arrogant?

01:40Not institutionally, no.

01:41I think it's more...

01:44Look, when you run a big outfit like that,

01:47you'll all appreciate this,

01:48you've got to maintain staff morale,

01:51and the management have to be seen to be defending their own folks.

01:56And, believe it or not,

01:57even after that memo,

01:58I totally get that.

02:01But they get a little bit wrong,

02:04and I think that was an instance,

02:05and there are other instances in the memo.

02:07Cam.

02:08Thanks, Geoff.

02:08Mr Prescott,

02:10do you think that the BBC

02:11is in a better place for the three resignations?

02:15Do you think public trust should be greater

02:16or lower for those three resignations?

02:23It's very hard to answer,

02:24because I think the answer to that

02:25depends on each individual citizen's perception

02:28of what's gone on.

02:29You speak of culture.

02:30Yeah.

02:30It starts from the top, does it not?

02:32Yeah.

02:33Usually, yes.

02:35And you want to know, bluntly,

02:36whether I think it's better or worse

02:37for not having Tim Davey

02:38and the rest of them there, I guess.

02:40Well, look, let me answer this way.

02:42For what, I took no pleasure

02:43in those people feeling compelled

02:45to leave their jobs, number one.

02:46And as regards, particularly Tim Davey,

02:49for what little use or worth this is to him now,

02:53firstly, I always liked the guy,

02:55and secondly, most importantly,

02:57to the extent that inexperts me can judge,

03:00he seemed to me to be doing a first-rate job

03:02across 80 or 90% of the portfolio.

03:05It was just that he had this blind spot

03:07on editorial failings.

03:08I think it's a bit of a tragedy he's gone.

03:10I thought he was a supreme talent,

03:11but he had this blind spot.

03:16Michael, were you pleased

03:18that your memo found its way into the book?

03:20No.

03:21Gosh.

03:22You're surprised.

03:23As I say, yeah, I was surprised.

03:25And first, I was surprised.

03:26Secondly, as I think I said a little while ago,

03:28I was hoping this might be sorted out quietly,

03:31you know, bored, Ofcom, DCMS.

03:34So that's one thing.

03:35Second thing is, again, I kind of alluded to this,

03:40given what, believe it or not,

03:43I was hoping this memo would do good

03:46and result in a better BBC being quietly achieved.

03:50And the fact it was in the Telegraph,

03:52no, I'm not criticising the Telegraph.

03:54They gave a lot of space as they took it very seriously.

03:56But in sort of ideological terms,

04:01the Telegraph appeals to a certain bit of the spectrum.

04:03And I think, therefore, the fact they broke the story

04:06became a bit of a barrier to people elsewhere

04:09on the political spectrum taking this as seriously

04:13or thinking this really was as straightforward as it seems.

04:16So that's my answer.

04:19And in terms of the comment that you just made

04:20about Tim Davy having a bit of a blind spot

04:23in an editorial sense,

04:25to what extent do you think that is simply because of the fact

04:29that that job, that DG job, is just too big for one person?

04:32I've been thinking for a while that it is,

04:34and what's happened to Tim confirms that.

04:36So, again, look, I'm not here to claim

04:38I'm the biggest expert in the world on organisational design,

04:41but as you asked me, and I was an advisor to this committee,

04:44it seems to me, I think the BBC might be well advised

04:47to consider having an editor-in-chief on the one hand

04:50and a CEO on the other.

04:52And I very well remember the period in the 80s

04:54when they did try that,

04:56and John Burt was at first not, you know,

04:59in charge of the whole of the enterprise.

05:01They did split the role,

05:02and I think it's probably worth looking at that again.

05:05Do you have a view on that, Caroline?

05:07On Tim Davy, sorry.

05:09On splitting the role.

05:10Splitting the role.

05:10Well, my role as an editorial advisor to the UGSC,

05:13I think the issues of whether the overall structure

05:15of the BBC and the governance for Tim versus the role

05:18is obviously for this committee

05:21and for the BBC board itself,

05:23it is a very large role and a very complicated role

05:26and very hard to get right consistently.

05:29And I think in previous times,

05:33we've had a deputy director general of the BBC,

05:36and I think probably it's such a large role

05:38and a lot of issues that I think that might benefit from it.

05:41How you'd rather see it split a DG and a deputy DG,

05:45or would you rather, as Michael suggests,

05:46have an editor-in-chief alongside a DG?

05:48I don't really have a perspective on it.

05:51I mean, I have a personal view as an average person looking at this,

05:53but I don't believe...

05:54What's your personal view?

05:55Well, I think my personal view is what I've just said,

05:58as I think would be helpful to have, you know,

06:00it's a large job with a lot of responsibilities,

06:03and it's an important institution to get this right.

06:05Anywhere you want him to come in?

06:06Thanks, Chair.

06:07One more, Mr Prescott.

06:08Well, you spoke quite highly of Tim Davie.

06:11What was your relationship with...

06:13Excuse if the immense pronunciation that is oncoming.

06:16Shamit Banerjee, did you have a relationship with him?

06:19No, I don't know the individual, no.

06:21OK.

06:22I think you can.

06:23Let's move on to Vicky, please.

06:25You rightly pointed out that the Panorama programme

06:28has been picked up quite a lot in terms of your note,

06:32and this was discussed at two meetings of the EGSC in January and May.

06:39Why do you think that the EGSC failed to act satisfactorily at either meeting?

06:46Well, at the first meeting...

06:47So, if I...

06:48Probably the best way to answer that,

06:50and it'll certainly help me give you good answers,

06:52if I go through the chronology.

06:54So, I happened to be at home and I watched that panorama.

06:57It struck me as having issues to do with balance.

07:01So, you know, I didn't think it was quite what I might have expected.

07:05I still wasn't too bothered because I thought,

07:06oh, that's quite an anti-Trump programme,

07:08but they'll probably be just as hard on Kamala Harris next week,

07:11and they weren't.

07:12So, I mentioned this at the committee.

07:14David Grossman was asked to look into it all,

07:18and he came back in January with the findings,

07:21which are, you know, summarised in my memo.

07:25The BBC executive did not seem...

07:30How shall I put it?

07:30They did not seem very open to accepting what David was saying,

07:34and so they were asked, and they agreed.

07:37As I say, there's usually consensus on the committee.

07:40They very happily agreed to go away and come back with a written response,

07:44having, to the mind certainly of me,

07:46and recollection of me, and I suspect others,

07:48seemed to be not open to accepting what David was saying,

07:51even though his findings were so stark.

07:53So, they did come back in May with this written response.

07:55Again, parts of the written response are quoted in my memo.

08:00And it was black and white.

08:02The management did not accept there was a problem,

08:05either overall with the US presidential coverage

08:07or with the Panorama programme.

08:09Simple as that.

08:10But that's yet their attempt to think.

08:11I'm going to try and review both of them that has

08:16been part of summary of the group there,

08:18because I have reasons for Gallagher,

08:20you know,

08:21all that people were speaking.

08:21And starting with us doesn't necessarily mistake by something.

08:24Part of just a place,

08:26I hope that this would have been public health here.

08:27Yeah.

08:28So when you're going to go up in May with them,

08:30the manufacturer will say it wrong.

Lawmakers Grill BBC Insider Michael Prescott Over Bias, Mismanagement & Editorial Failings | APT

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