Lisa Nandy: BBC review will examine political appointments to board | BBC
Lisa Nandy said the BBC’s charter review will examine political appointments to the editorial board because they “undermine trust and confidence”.
On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the culture secretary was asked whether BBC board member Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former communications chief, had overstepped his remit and focused on politics.
“There is a real concern, which I share, that political appointments to the BBC board undermine trust and confidence in the impartiality of the BBC,” he said.
“This is something we will be looking at as part of the charter review that sets the tone for the BBC for the next decade and which this government is about to launch.”
MPs and BBC staff have called for Gibb to be removed from the company’s board as outgoing chief executive Tim Davie lashed out at the “weaponisation” of criticism of the broadcaster.
In an online meeting with Davie, staff questioned the position of Gibb, who was appointed to the BBC during Boris Johnson’s premiership.
Some said Gibb and all political appointees should be removed from the body. Gibb allegedly leveled accusations of institutional bias before the shock resignation of BBC News chief Davie and Deborah Turness.
Their weekend departures followed accusations of bias made in a memo by Michael Prescott, the former independent external adviser to the BBC’s broadcasting rules and standards committee. He left this role in the summer.
His memo was leaked to the Daily Telegraph last week and reported on for several days.
This message included criticism of the way Panorama edited footage of Donald Trump’s speech; which has since led the US president to threaten $1 billion (£760 million) in legal action. Prescott made a number of other claims about a more general liberal bias on issues such as transgender rights and Gaza.
Although the BBC has acknowledged the failings, concerns have grown about Gibb’s position on the board amid suggestions that he played a role both in making Prescott’s allegations and in appointing Prescott to an advisory role. Both Gibb and Prescott have been called to give evidence to the Commons culture, media and sport committee.
On Thursday, the BBC apologized to Trump for the editing of the Panorama documentary.
However, the company rejected claims for compensation. His lawyers had threatened to sue the BBC unless it recanted, apologized and reached a settlement with him.
The BBC also agreed not to show the edition of Panorama again.
The program was broadcast a week before the US elections. The attached clip shows Trump telling the crowd: “We’re going to march to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight like hell.” The quotes were taken from parts of his speech almost an hour apart.
