S4C search hampered by language barrier

Welsh-language television broadcaster S4C continues in its own special micro climate. The interviews for the next chair of the S4C Authority, vacant since John Walter Jones's messy departure at the end of 2010, were held on 3 March, with Richard Tait, the former BBC Trust member and now director of Cardiff University's Journalism centre as a panel member. But no appointment has been made. It is said that culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is concerned that none of the shortlisted candidates are sufficiently detached from S4C, with the favoured person, Enid Rowlands, being a former member of the authority. The problem for Hunt is that only fluent Welsh speakers are acceptable, and that creates a restricted pool of candidates who are also versed in the vagaries of public life.