Tim Davie insists he is fit to lead the BBC in the ‘right way' amid scandals

Independent

6 days ago

BBC director-general Tim Davie has asserted his ability to guide the corporation "in the right way", even as it grapples with a string of recent reputational crises.
The broadcaster has faced significant scrutiny in recent months, including breaches of its own editorial accuracy guidelines, the controversial livestreaming of Bob Vylan's Glastonbury performance, and recent misconduct allegations involving Gregg Wallace, the former presenter of MasterChef.
The corporation's annual report showed that Mr Davie, who has been in the role since 2020, has had a 3.8 per cent pay rise with his salary going up £20,000 from £527,000 last year to £547,000.
Mr Davie was asked during the release of the corporation's 2024/2025 annual report on Tuesday whether he would resign.
He said: 'I simply think I'm in a place where I can work to improve dramatically the BBC and lead it in the right way.
'We will make mistakes, but I think as a leadership and myself, I've been very clear, and I think we have been decisive.
'There's enormous, massive noise and different opinions about what we should do, but I think we have been clear. We are making the right decisions. We're being transparent on what we do, and I think that's what counts. I would also say that under my tenure, I've set a very clear stall out in terms of impartiality.
'I think we're setting a global standard in terms of public service broadcasting and media.
'Under my leadership, and the team I've assembled, I think we feel very passionately about that.
' One of the things that I focus on, as a leader, is there has never been a more important time for public service broadcasting.
' Gaza has been the most challenging editorial issue I've had to deal with, but the importance of fair, balanced reporting, the need for high quality, homegrown programming in the face of massive pressure, I think, has never, ever been greater.
'I believe my leadership and the team I've assembled can really help the leadership thrive in that environment.'
This comes after a review conducted by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews – which is independent of BBC News, and published on Monday, found its documentary, Gaza: Surviving a Warzone, breached BBC editorial guidelines on accuracy for failing to disclose details of the narrator's father.
The report did not find any other breaches of editorial guidelines, including breaches of impartiality and also found no evidence that 'outside interests' 'inappropriately impacted on the programme'.
Since the report was published, broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced it would investigate the documentary under its own broadcasting code, which states that factual programmes 'must not materially mislead the audience'.
Dr Samir Shah, BBC chair, added: 'I want to be absolutely clear that I and the board support Tim Davie's leadership fully.
'He has shown very confident and decisive leadership in a very, very challenging environment, right from the start
'The number of issues of vision from people behaving badly to News in some cases, when it's appropriate, decisively and shouldn't do it all, in other cases,
'We are the BBC, and we will do this properly. We do it fairly, we do it correctly, and we will then take action. That's where we are at the moment.
'Tim Davie and his team, and Tim in particular, has shown very strong leadership throughout all this period, and he has my full support.'
Dr Shah also said in the annual report: 'The BBC is a wonderful place to work. Our staff are dedicated, hard-working and treat each other with respect. However, there are pockets in the organisation where this is not the case.
'There are still places where powerful individuals – on and off-screen – can abuse that power to make life for their colleagues unbearable.'