Landor off

Not always the tallest person on the BBC News management team, but Liliane Landor's departure will leave large boots to fill. 

She returned to the BBC from a spell with Channel 4 News in the autumn of 2021, to run "International Service". She'd left abruptly in 2016, in what to outsiders looked like a disagreement over who should control new Foreign Office funding. 

At 68, she's been a wise, calming head in a frantic organisation obsessed with 'hits' and other superficial metrics.  She was born in Lebanon, and educated in France and Switzerland; she's British by adoption and Cuban through her mother. She speaks five languages, and worked as an interpreter in Paris and with the Council for Racial Equality in London before joining the BBC in 1980, presenting on the French Service. Thence to fronting Europe Today and The World Today before a range of editorial roles. She became Controller of Languages in 2010. She's a Gooner, and doesn't like current weekend changes on Radio 3. 

In her message to staff she writes "I remain deeply concerned about the operational capability of the World Service if additional cuts continue to weaken it further.

The essence of the World Service in English and 42 languages needs to be protected. It must be able to retain its distinctive universal voice regardless of how deeply it integrates into the wider BBC News framework. And it needs to continue to be a genuine international public service capable of reaching people and parts of the world in need of trusted news and information."

Martine's Day

Deadline tells us that forgotten BBC News anchor Martine Croxall is taking her employer to a London tribunal for a two-day hearing starting on Labour Day, May 1st. 

The claim is not yet public, but the witness list will be just as interesting. 

This, on X, is from just three days ago. 

Patience, DW. Patience!

— Martine Croxall (@MartineBBC) April 15, 2024

County lines

 

Library film on last night's 6pm bulletin on BBC1, to back a story about Sussex Police apologising to the families of two schoolgirls murdered in Brighton in 1986, over mistakes in its investigations.

Not news, Naja, 6

 

After the daft ballerinas-en-pointe video, we get a nasty car chase of a drunken driver, recently released. That 'auto-plays' into police nudging an uninsured scooter rider, from 2022, and a police-filmed car flip, from 2022. 

It's clear that the 'clicks' are coming from people who don't read dates.  It's a bit embarrassing, isn't it, Ms Turness ? BBC News should be better than this. 

Not news, Naja 5

Is it BBC News' fault for creating this sort of tosh online, or the audience's fault for lapping it up ? Currently (1300 Wednesday) most watched on the website. A pigeon flies into a bloke's head, and tv presenters giggle. From September 2023.... 

and there's still plenty more in the same tone.

Cross with Across

Another double-duffing up for BBC Director General Tim Davie for his "Across The UK" strategy and its implementation; as night follows day, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has followed the National Audit Office in its verdict of 'well-intentioned, poorly-thought-out, and variably managed'. 

Tim has Trumpian tendencies when it comes to announcements.  In 2021, he committed to shifting £700m of spending outside London by 2027, representing 60% of network tv spend and 50% of network radio spend. 50% of "News Story" teams would also move out of the capital. He would create 1,000 apprenticeships, boosted to 1,400 later. 

To Tim, this was motherhood and apple-pie - it was absolutely obvious to the marketing man that the audience perception of the BBC outside London would be improved. Look what happened in Salford and Cardiff - it's a no-brainer. 

Sadly he has yet to provide the PAC with evidence that perceptions are improving. Has the Government won hearts and minds by moving Treasury departments to Darlington ? Are the people of Manchester rejoicing because they have bits of the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology in their midst ? Do the taxpayers of Leeds cheer as they pass the Ministry of Justice outpost in Wellington Place ? 

Order of things

BBC News' interview with Sir Salman Rushdie was conducted by Alan Yentob in New York, with the supporting attendance of Chris Gibson, Editor of the "Culture" team. It was 'published' on Monday. 

Meanwhile Anderson Cooper's interview with Sir Salman, for 60 Minutes, went out on Sunday, on the CBS Network, billed as the novelist's first tv interview since the knife attack of 2022.  CBS is BBC News' partner network in the United States. 

Ambage

I'm always on the lookout for logorrheic BBC job titles, and often one seems to generate another. 

So the current Executive News Editor World Service Languages Channels is advertising for a Senior News Editor, World Service Channels Evolution and Streaming.

(Reading between the lines, he's really looking for someone with fluent Arabic or Farsi, to keep an eye on things....)

Solutions twaddle

Here's an emerging new wing of the burgeoning BBC Studios operation in New York - Partner Solutions. 

The Senior Manager of Partner Solutions will be responsible for responding to client-specific opportunities and needs for both new and existing business. This role will manage and grow the sales pipeline, understanding key client targets while managing the renewal process with the sales organization. They will need to serve as an internal advocate for customer needs to ensure broad awareness of, and empathy for, customer pain points. 

The Manager of Partner Solutions will be responsible for generating commercial-market demand for the BBC. Helping translate editorial and audience data, product capabilities and content opportunities into business-moving and objective-exceeding marketing programs for our top-tier client-set for the US and Canada. Assist in the collaboration of in-market capabilities that will help drive new revenue and partnership for our sales team.

Commentator

It looks like there are slightly different social media guidelines at AMC Networks, where Blake Callaway is the executive in charge of BBC America......

Sounds fine by me

— blake callaway (@blakerr) April 12, 2024