The to-do list of the BBC's new boss
Tim Davie took over as Director-General of the BBC on Wednesday. The British public service broadcaster is facing considerable pressure to reform, also because the Conservative government accuses it of leaning to the left and being biased towards the EU in its reporting. Commentators also call for more diversity among the editorial staff - for various reasons.
More colour and diversity sorely needed
Underrepresentation of minorities on the BBC's staff is one of the reasons why the quality of its reporting has deteriorated, The Independent complains:
“And yet - despite its public pronouncements - the broadcaster has serious shortcomings when it comes to diversity. According to yet to be published figures by the BBC, but seen by the HuffPost, it has only 41 black people in its ranks of approximately 2,000 senior managers, and less than 1 per cent of its 319 most senior managers are black. As well as race, the BBC also acknowledges that it has serious diversity issues when it comes to class, disability and other underrepresented groups.”
Impartiality abandoned too often
The BBC's biggest problem is that the political attitudes of its senior editors do not reflect public opinion, The Daily Telegraph contends:
“The ethnic and gender diversity of BBC journalists, both on- and off-air, has improved markedly. Yet when it comes to diversity of socio-economic background and opinion among key staff, our national broadcaster has gone backwards. This chronic lack of cognitive diversity among senior staff is why, on major issues, the BBC so often seriously misjudges the national mood. One example is Brexit – where so many BBC journalists, mistaking Twitter 'likes' for public opinion, abandoned impartiality altogether.”