For the second time in my 14-and-a-half year association with the BBC, the Director General has been forced to step down from his post, very publicly and following weeks of damaging criticism from the wider media about how he has, or rather hasn't, handled the latest crisis. I hasten to add that neither resignation had anything to do with me directly!
I didn't know George Entwistle personally, my opinions were formed purely from the round-robin emails he sent to every member of staff announcing his appointment etc, and his various appearances in the media following the Savile allegations. He seemed perfectly pleasant; other colleagues who worked with him in the past when he edited Newsnight swear that he was "razor sharp" and completely on top of his brief. I wonder what happened? He seems to have lost his edge. The job of being in charge of the entire BBC was perhaps a bit beyond his capabilities.
Greg Dyke, the other DG forced from his post following the Hutton enquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly and the alleged 'sexing up' of the government dossier, was a completely different beast. I met him briefly a few times in the newsroom as he liked to be very 'hands on', famously handing out yellow cards that you could hold up in a meeting if the bullshit level threatened to sap you of the will to live. Those 'cut the crap' cards epitomised his style of leadership: robust and to the point.
It must have been back in 2002/3 when the word came to me from on high (yes, from one of the many layers of middle management that surrounds the newsroom like bubblewrap) that Greg Dyke urgently needed a briefing paper on the man who was about to become First Sea Lord (head of the Royal Navy in normal speak) before an introductory lunch between the two of them the next day. At the time I was the BBC Defence Producer, the resident so-called 'expert' in all things military who provided analysis and more importantly, the line of clear communication between the two behemoths that are the BBC and the MOD.
I made a few calls to trusted military sources and discovered a few surprising facts to include in my brief along with all the usual boring stuff. One was that the Britain's new 'Top Sailor' was allergic to egg - or something like that - come on it was a long time ago!, and the other was that he had been court martialled, not once but twice, in his career. I wrote it all up with a slightly tongue in cheek ending and sent it off to Dyke's office. The word came back that he was mightily pleased to have had such a thorough document and it had made the meeting go well. Job done, brownie points in the bag.
I was sad when Greg Dyke decided to quit following the outcome of the Hutton report. I felt that we had lost a leader who was feisty, but more importantly really cared about his journalists and what was going on in the newsroom. He was prepared to put up a fight for what was broadcast on his output. Wrongly, as it turned out as the reporter in question, Andrew Gilligan, was well known for his, shall we say, unorthodox research and reporting habits.
I remember a conversation I had at a party with Adrian Van Klaveren, the then Head of Newsgathering in July 2003, just as the David Kelly affair was gathering pace. "What if we're in the wrong? What if Gilligan's facts aren't as they appear" I asked him. "What do you want us to do?" he replied testily, "just give in to Alastair Campbell?"
Well, no, the BBC should never give in to goverment pressure, but it should acknowledge when it's got it wrong, so horribly wrong, and someone has to pay the price for that by falling on their sword. I just wonder where it will stop.
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