Governing the BBC: Lights, action, meltdown
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One woman to rule them all
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Governing the BBC
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SHARP-SUITED television executives at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) covet dramas riveting enough to stop viewers switching over to their commercial rivals. On September 9th an appearance by seven of the broadcasting world’s big beasts before the Commons Public Accounts Committee provided enough tension, vengeance and omens of further upheaval to fuel an entire series.
Severance payments for senior BBC executives started the spat, but the implications run far deeper for the national broadcaster. Faced with pressures to cull a sprawling headcount of managers the BBC’s solution to dealing with an excess of highly paid executives turned out to be to pay them an awful lot to go away.
The corporation spent nearly £370m ($585m) over eight years in staff redundancies and “sweeteners”, often beyond contractual requirements. The highest-paid fared best: 150 senior departing managers received £25m between 2000 and ...