A “toxic mix” of over-assertive BBC board members and executives feeling under siege contributed to the resignations of its two most senior editorial leaders, an influential former BBC figure has warned.
A bitter row is still raging over the events that led up to the resignations of the director general, Tim Davie, and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News.
The pair resigned after disputed accusations of “systemic problems” at the BBC by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser. His memo, outlining his concerns about reporting over Donald Trump, Gaza and trans issues, was leaked to the Daily Telegraph.
Mark Damazer, a former deputy director of BBC News who has been touted as a figure who could help the corporation through the current crisis, pointed to a toxic culture of distrust at the top of the broadcaster.
Damazer said he did not believe there had been any malign intent on behalf of Robbie Gibb, the BBC board member and Theresa May’s former communications chief in Downing Street, who has been accused of pushing concerns of liberal bias.
However, he said there had been a lack of self-reflection on the part of some board members about how to conduct their role overseeing the BBC.
“There have always been political appointments and people have more or less been able to leave their ideology on the peg outside,” he said, addressing the Voice of the Listener and Viewer conference in London.
“Have recent appointments changed that into what I think is a culture of over-assertion, lack of self consciousness, insufficient reflection on what their job is? … I think that there’s enough evidence to presuppose that something is not right in that equation.
“You’ve got toxic mix of, in my view, a lack of a benign corporate culture and benign sense of reflection and self consciousness, with a management that feels embattled – and there you have the coordinates for trouble.”
Pressure is increasing on Samir Shah, the BBC’s chair, after accusations he exacerbated the crisis by delaying the BBC’s response to the bias claims and failing to keep the board united. One board member has resigned, saying the BBC’s response has given encouragement to its enemies.
Damazer did not blame the BBC’s chair, saying Shah had inherited its structures and personnel.
However, he suggested Gibb should have recused himself from judging the BBC output in relation to the Middle East, given that for four years, he was the beneficial owner of the Jewish Chronicle.
It was during Gibb’s time at the publication that it appointed an editor criticised for using it as a “partisan, ideological instrument”.
Damazer said that, given Gibb’s support for impartiality, he found it surprising he did not recuse himself from judging BBC journalism on Middle East issues when they came before the BBC’s educational guidance and standards committee (EGSC). Gibb is one of a handful of the committee’s members.
Damazer said an issue of such “ferocious intensity and velocity is bound to lead to, at the very least, and I mean at the very least, severe questions of perception … the only plausible thing to do would be to step back”.
Gibb told MPs on the culture, media and sport committee on Monday that he had “no editorial role whatsoever” on the Jewish Chronicle. He also made clear that he had broken ties with the publication before a group of columnists walked out over its political stance.
However, Steven Barnett, professor of communications at the University of Westminster, pointed to testimony that questioned that account.
He cited claims by Lee Harpin, a former reporter on the Jewish Chronicle, who stated Gibb held interviews for the post of deputy editor. Harpin also recounts how Gibb “made a habit of calling into the office on print days early after the new owners took control to check up on what stories were topping the news list, and offering a view”.
Gibb was approached for comment. The BBC said Gibb was one of 13 members of the BBC board and that the EGSC was not involved in day-to-day output, only reviewing post-broadcast issues and complaints.
