Ed Vaizey, the communications minister for the past five years, defended the appointment of Rona Fairhead as chair of the BBC Trust on Wednesday, while admitting that future governance of the corporation would be an issue for charter renewal.
The minister of state for culture and the digital economy was talking as it was revealed that Fairhead has been ordered to appear before the Commons public accounts committee on Monday, along with two executive directors at HSBC about her former role as chair of its audit committee. She remained chair of HSBC’s North American division after being appointed to the trust last year.
Asked whether enough questions had been asked about Fairhead’s other non-executive roles, Vaizey reminded delegates at the Oxford Media Convention that she had appeared before the culture, media and sport select committee. “Rona went through a proper appointments process … She is an incredibly impressive woman and she will do a very good job as chair.”
After the trust itself was described as a failure by the select committee, he said “clearly governance will be an issue that will be discussed in charter review.”
In what could be his last appearance as minister at the annual media convention, Vaizey made the audience laugh by saying that local TV, a policy backed by his former ministerial boss Jeremy Hunt, had been a “stunning success”. “You can’t open the Evening Standard without seeing [something about] exciting programmes on London Live,” he said. At audience laughter he said: “They are laughing, but it’s serious … they laugh in the face of facts.”
In a broad-ranging speech short of detail, he also urged the media industry to do more to improve diversity. “The media remains a powerful force for good in this country. It needs to reflect the society we live in; and at the moment it doesn’t.”
After talking to actor Lenny Henry and being struck by how non-diverse an audience at the National Theatre was two years ago, Vaizey said he realised how angry people were about it and how much needed to be done. “The more people I talked to, the more I discovered frustration and anger … we are seeing change … but we’ve only just started and we need to get on with it.”
On the issue of regulating social media sites over issues such as internet porn, he said that partnership was better than regulation or legislation. “I’ve made no secret of my concern for social media sites and that they need to come to the table and address very real concerns of people who use those sites … I think all social media sites can, and should, do more.”
He suggested that the decision to delay discussions about renewing the BBC’s royal charter until after the next election was made to avoid the corporation being caught up in “partisan point-scoring”, though when he heard that Harriet Harman, the shadow deputy leader, reported she “hearts the BBC”, he said he needed to say “the Tories heart the BBC too”.
