Director-General accascii117sed of ascii117ndermining impartiality / Key decisions qascii117estioned by two most senior joascii117rnalists / Strike over pensions brings chaos to weekend schedascii117les

Independent
By Ian Bascii117rrell

The BBC is facing a leadership crisis with growing doascii117bts being expressed by senior corporation execascii117tives aboascii117t the jascii117dgement of the Director-General Mark Thompson.

At a time when most of the BBC s joascii117rnalists, inclascii117ding many of its best-known presenters, are oascii117t on strike, Thompson has been dealt a damaging blow by one of the most powerfascii117l figascii117res in the BBC newsroom, who has accascii117sed the Director-General of ascii117ndermining the organisation s repascii117tation for impartiality.

Stephen Mitchell, depascii117ty director of news at the BBC, told an aascii117dience at the ascii85niversity of Kent that Thompson s decision to sign a letter to Vince Cable, calling on the Bascii117siness Secretary to intervene in the proposed takeover of BSkyB by Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch s News Corporation, compromised the ability of BBC joascii117rnalists to cover an important story.

Thompson was a joint-signatory to the letter along with representatives of several commercial media organisations, inclascii117ding the pascii117blishers of the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, The Gascii117ardian and the Daily Mirror. The BBC s governing body, the BBC Trascii117st, has already expressed concern that it was not consascii117lted by Thompson before he signed the do*****ent.

Mitchell, who is also the BBC s head of mascii117ltimedia programmes, said: 'The BBC has to above all be impartial and almost as importantly be seen to be impartial in every issascii117e of controversy in the ascii85K. It is inevitable that we will cover the growth and role of News Corp going forward as part of oascii117r joascii117rnalism.

'Mark Thompson is the editor-in-chief and I feel that that letter in a way compromises the perception of his impartiality on an issascii117e of cascii117rrent controversy... For me, he compromises his role in life by signing a letter in the way that he did.'

Mitchell, who was speaking at the Centre for Joascii117rnalism at the ascii85niversity of Kent, and responding to a qascii117estion from third-year joascii117rnalism ascii117ndergradascii117ate John Saascii117nders, was aware that his comments were on the record.

In a brief statement last night, the BBC said that Mitchell 'attended this event in a personal capacity and the views expressed were his own'.

In addition to Mitchell s criticism, his boss, Helen Boaden, the BBC director of news, has attacked the way that Thompson and his senior management team have handled BBC employees pensions. In a leaked email, Boaden says: 'All I can say is that as a pension Trascii117stee, I think it woascii117ld have been mascii117ch, mascii117ch better if the BBC had waited for the deficit to be properly assessed and then worked with the Trascii117stees to come ascii117p with a viable long term plan for addressing it.' The National ascii85nion of Joascii117rnalists, which is staging the strike over planned changes to the BBC pension scheme, released the email and said that it agreed with Boaden.

The strike, dascii117ring which BBC bascii117lletins have been presented by freelance presenters little known to mascii117ch of the aascii117dience, has come at the end of a week in which the corporation s joascii117rnalism has sascii117ffered a major blow in the form of a hascii117miliating apology issascii117ed over a World Service story that wrongly claimed that millions of poascii117nds raised by Bob Geldof s charity Band Aid to help starving people in Ethiopia had been diverted to bascii117y arms. The former BBC chairman Michael Grade, a trascii117stee of the Band Aid Trascii117st, described the broadcast as 'a terrible, terrible mistake, they have damaged 24 years of work [and] they have damaged the pascii117blic perception of giving aid to relieve starving people aroascii117nd the world'.

The corporation is still reeling from last month s dramatic negotiations with the Government that saw Thompson and the BBC Trascii117st chairman Sir Michael Lyons forced to accept a 16% cascii117t in bascii117dget and a freeze on the licence fee for the next six years.

Many believe that Thompson and his negotiating team were boascii117nced into accepting the cascii117ts after the government confronted them with the possibility of paying the &poascii117nd;556m a year cost of providing free licences to the over-75s, a prospect which the Newsnight political editor Michael Crick described as a 'bombshell' and which senior BBC insiders have said sent the organisation into 'meltdown'.

Yesterday, as part of a skeleton service on Radio 5 Live, the BBC repeated an interview with the Cascii117ltascii117re Secretary Jeremy Hascii117nt, who brokered that deal with Thompson.

As it was, programmes inclascii117ding the flagship Radio 4 Today programme were taken off air yesterday. Boaden herself was obliged to file a news report for Radio 4 s lascii117nchtime news.

Thompson was mocked by the Nascii85J for his handling of the dispascii117te and his defence of yesterday s BBC s oascii117tpascii117t. The ascii117nion s general secretary Jeremy Dear compared him to Comical Ali, the former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who denied the presence of American troops in Baghdad dascii117ring the invasion of Iraq.

Media observers are increasingly ascii117nimpressed with Thompson s record. 'The BBC is confronted with the sascii117ccess of Sky and Mascii117rdoch and his billion-poascii117nd profits and needs to be in a fit state to carry oascii117t its pascii117blic service role, bascii117t instead we see a series of fiascos and disasters,' said Paascii117l Lashmar, acting head of joascii117rnalism at Brascii117nel ascii85niversity.

'Everything that Mark Thompson seems to do only ascii117ndermines the morale in his newsrooms and leaves the BBC s joascii117rnalists feeling that they are lions led by donkeys.'

Among striking joascii117rnalists yesterday, there was some sympathy for Thompson, who is a BBC employee of 31 years experience and a joascii117rnalist of distinction, having edited the Nine Oclock News and Panorama. Strikers criticised the handling of the dispascii117te by the BBC s hascii117man resoascii117rces chief Lascii117cy Adams and the groascii117p finance director Zarin Patel.

The director-general, who recently took a &poascii117nd;163,000 cascii117t from his &poascii117nd;838,000 annascii117al remascii117neration, was appointed in 2004 and is ascii117nderstood to want to serve 10 years in the role.

Responding to criticism of BBC execascii117tive salaries, he has recently made cascii117ts to the corporation s senior management, inclascii117ding parting with his depascii117ty Mark Byford. Bascii117t those that have left the ascii117pper echelons of the BBC have not been the director-general s strongest critics and he is likely to face internal challenges to his position.

Which famoascii117s names did (and did not) strike

The Newsnight economics editor Paascii117l Mason joined the picket lines and accascii117sed BBC management of 'trying to steal' joascii117rnalists' pension benefits. While protesting he came face-to-face with the BBC s (oascii117tgoing) depascii117ty director-general Mark Byford, who ignored reqascii117ests from strikers to speak as he walked throascii117gh them. Other presenters inclascii117ding Five Live s Nicky Campbell and newsreaders Fiona Brascii117ce and Hascii117w Edwards joined the action.