[Swprograms] Nobody wants to be boss of BBC?

[Daniel Say <say@xxxxxx>]

	Not a word about our 'favourite', Mark Byford

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1182216,00.html
8am
 Search for BBC DG 'a charade'

 Lisa O'Carroll Wednesday March 31, 2004
The Guardian (London, UK)
-----
Jackson: has not applied for the job but a friend said
he was 'tempted'
----

 The battle to succeed Greg Dyke as BBC director
 general will have to restart once a chairman is
 appointed after it emerged that at least three
 front-runners have not bothered to apply because of
 the current leadership hiatus.

Senior sources at the BBC have confirmed Mark
Thompson, the chief executive of Channel 4 and the
odds-on favourite for the job, did not submit an
application by the March 22 deadline.

And John Smith, the BBC's finance director and a
strong internal candidate who had indicated an early
interest, has decided not to throw his hat into the
ring after all.

Another very strong candidate, Michael Jackson, a
former BBC director of TV and BBC1 controller, has not
applied although a friend said he was "tempted".

Mr Jackson has been working in the US for the past
three years.

He is understood to be committed contractually to stay
with Universal TV until its recently agreed merger
with NBC is complete, a process that could take until
May or June.

Sources say he has not ruled himself out of the
running for the BBC job.

It is not known how many candidates have applied for
the director general's job but it is thought the
acting director general, Mark Byford, and the head of
BBC radio, Jenny Abramsky, have done so.

Mr Thompson's absence from the application list is no
surprise - he has already said he would not apply for
the job.

His decision not to put his name forward was proof,
said one senior BBC executive, that the selection
process was "a charade" that would have to be
abandoned once the new chairman or chairwoman is
appointed.

The deadline for applications for director general
fell on the day before the interviews were held for
chair, which would also have put off serious
candidates, according to the executive.

"It is a phoney war at this stage. The relationship
between the chief executive and chairman is absolutely
key. Who would apply for a job who didn't know who
their chairperson was going to be?" said the insider.

"It's like saying I'll get married on Thursday but I
don't know who to. If you look over the years, the
relationships have been very significant - Marmaduke
Hussey and John Birt or even Greg Dyke and Gavyn
Davies. It has to be a double ace," said another
executive, who might have been considered a
candidate.

But one senior BBC executive with knowledge of the
process defended the decision to advertise for
applications in the absence of a new chair and to
employ headhunters.

"We had to get the process under way. People who want
to be director general want it because they want to
run the BBC, not because they can work with one
chairman or another. This is the single most important
job in TV," said the insider.

A shortlist of candidates will be drawn up by a
nominations committee comprising four BBC governors -
Dame Pauline Neville Jones, Deborah Bull, Merfyn Jones
and Dermot Gleeson.

The BBC said whether the shortlist would be acceptable
or not was "up to the chairman" and it was possible
the list could be ditched.

The chair who replaces Mr Davies, who was forced to
resign following the publication of the Hutton report,
will be appointed within the next three weeks, the
culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, said last weekend.

It is understood seven candidates were interviewed for
the post and Michael Grade, Lord Watson, David
Dimbleby and David Frost have been confirmed as names
on the list.

The list has also been sent to an independent panel
led by Dame Rennie Fritchie, the commissioner for
public appointments, who will be on hand to ensure the
selection process adheres to the Nolan rules on public
appointments.

Dame Rennie will be joined in assessing the shortlist
by former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord
Condon, ex-Labour cabinet minister Jack Cunningham,
and Lord Steel, the former Liberal party leader.

If they agree the original interview process has been
fair and open, Ms Jowell and Downing Street will then
decide on the victor.

Some Whitehall sources say a "cock-up" in the wording
of advertisement for the chairman's role has meant
some candidates such as the Pearson chairman, Dennis
Stevenson, did not apply.

The advert said the #80,000-a-year job would take up
four days a week but, in reality, it is only a
two-day-a-week post, said a source.

The ad, which appeared in the Sunday Times, was
modelled on that used following Mr Hussey's retirement
and the copy was not checked in detail, said the
insider.

"Hussey did the job for four days a week because he
had nothing else to do. That may have put off a lot of
serious candidates," said the source.

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