Dressing things up

The Guardian has been let in on Lord (Tony) Hall's agenda for his first official day at the helm of the BBC, on Tuesday - and it proves that things move fast. It says he plans symbolic visits to "Reithian" departments - Panorama, science, Radio 1 and the "tech ops" team. Panorama currently has a producer suspended, after it appeared an interviewee was offered future employment to contribute to an investigation. The "tech ops" visit is apparently in thanks for keeping broadcasting going in bad weather; staff will note that some technical managers kept things going during Friday's strike by BECTU and the NUJ.  One interesting side bar: this strategic walkabout can now happen without Lord Hall putting on an overcoat, as all the departments are in Broadcasting House.

The Guardian also notes that Lord Hall will meet with Alan Yentob and James Purnell. Kremlinologists like myself will be interested to see if Al is formally restored to the top table, after the Entwistle demotion.

Again, the Guardian notes that Lord Hall will do a range of media interviews. I reckon this will be fairly boring for all parties involved; it's still too early for radical statements - and, anyway, Tony's not a man to scare the horses at any stage of his tenure. I still think the first interesting interview will come on April 25th, when he faces the dangerous dogs of the Commons Culture Committee.

Former BBC presenter Robin Lustig makes a sage point in today's FT - I paraphrase rather than cut, cos the FT doesn't like that.  He says the BBC no longer has too many managers, but those that remain spend too much time in endless meetings seeking further efficiencies. In the end, he argues, this is a costly but largely pointless exercise; editors waste both hours and money debating with each other how to end duplication, instead of driving real innovation.

The fact is that these surviving managers are pretty ring-savvy about appearing to play the game, but still ending up holding onto budgets. The management style under Dyke and Thompson was to create spurious titles (cf Delivering Quality First) for these efficiency drives, and to pretend that the ideas and initiatives for change came from within the organisation, thus creating "ownership" of the cuts; uncomfortable cuts apparently then emerged from consensus - "you told us it made sense". The reality was always very different. Big decisions - like the move to Salford, and the investment in Broadcasting House - could only ever come from the top. (Historians may note that the redevelopment of Broadcasting House followed a review of BBC property strategy called the 20/20 Vision, led by one Tony Hall).

I doubt Lord Hall will swathe the changes he wants to make now in the consensual, time-consuming style of the past twenty years.  I think he'll just get on with it.