Post by Teddy Bear on Feb 22, 2013 23:08:33 GMT
A journalist makes an observation on the bloated BBC's hierarchy following the Pollard report.
'More bloated with managers than China' Damning picture of BBC's bureaucracy revealed in report on Savile scandal
By Sam Greenhill
The BBC is bloated with more managers than China who waste all day talking and are obsessed by their pensions, the Pollard Inquiry heard.
A damning picture of the vast bureaucracy at the corporation was painted by Jeremy Paxman and Lord Patten.
Mr Paxman fails to hide his contempt for his bosses in the ‘over-managed’ news department, calling them ‘these bloody people’.
Criticism: The BBC is bloated with more managers than China who waste all day talking and are obsessed by their pensions, the Pollard Inquiry heard
Criticism: The BBC is bloated with more managers than China who waste all day talking and are obsessed by their pensions, the Pollard Inquiry heard
Paxman says his superiors Helen Boaden, Stephen Mitchell and Peter Rippon, all ‘belong to a different culture’ and suggested they were more interested in their pensions than in journalism.
The two senior figures talked candidly to the Pollard inquiry team, although their most damning remarks have been censored.
Nonetheless, in the comments that escaped the censor’s black pen, Paxman said that after the Hutton inquiry, editorial decision making at the BBC became more ‘centralised’ and told Pollard:
‘There is a raft of appointments now that have been made of people who are clearly not the most creative.
‘They seemed to spend an awful lot of time having meetings with one another...They do a lot of talking to each other.’
Paxman was scathing of the ‘editorial policy department’, saying: ‘I don’t know what they do. I mean, they talk to each other, I suppose, as all these bloody people do.’
Jeremy Paxman
Lord Patten
Speaking out: A damning picture of the vast bureaucracy at the corporation was painted by Jeremy Paxman, left, and Lord Patten, right
And of the department’s boss, David Jordan, he said: ‘It would be rather interesting to ask him what his job is. I expect you would get a long answer.’
In another side-swipe, the veteran broadcaster suggested the managers were ‘preoccupied by their pensions’.
Meanwhile Lord Patten even half-joked that some of the BBC’s top brass had never even met one another.
He said: ‘I went to speak to the senior leader’s group in the BBC and said they had more senior leaders than China.
‘The management team, the senior management team, that the previous director general had was 27 - 25 or 27. They never met.’
He added: ‘There are the sort of employment opportunities at the BBC which simply don’t exist anywhere else, and I think that is one reason why people get into the BBC and then never leave.’
- Jeremy Paxman and Lord Patten were most critical
- Paxman called his bosses ‘these bloody people’
- He suggested they were more interested in their pensions than journalism
By Sam Greenhill
The BBC is bloated with more managers than China who waste all day talking and are obsessed by their pensions, the Pollard Inquiry heard.
A damning picture of the vast bureaucracy at the corporation was painted by Jeremy Paxman and Lord Patten.
Mr Paxman fails to hide his contempt for his bosses in the ‘over-managed’ news department, calling them ‘these bloody people’.
Criticism: The BBC is bloated with more managers than China who waste all day talking and are obsessed by their pensions, the Pollard Inquiry heard
Criticism: The BBC is bloated with more managers than China who waste all day talking and are obsessed by their pensions, the Pollard Inquiry heard
Paxman says his superiors Helen Boaden, Stephen Mitchell and Peter Rippon, all ‘belong to a different culture’ and suggested they were more interested in their pensions than in journalism.
The two senior figures talked candidly to the Pollard inquiry team, although their most damning remarks have been censored.
Nonetheless, in the comments that escaped the censor’s black pen, Paxman said that after the Hutton inquiry, editorial decision making at the BBC became more ‘centralised’ and told Pollard:
‘There is a raft of appointments now that have been made of people who are clearly not the most creative.
‘They seemed to spend an awful lot of time having meetings with one another...They do a lot of talking to each other.’
Paxman was scathing of the ‘editorial policy department’, saying: ‘I don’t know what they do. I mean, they talk to each other, I suppose, as all these bloody people do.’
Jeremy Paxman
Lord Patten
Speaking out: A damning picture of the vast bureaucracy at the corporation was painted by Jeremy Paxman, left, and Lord Patten, right
And of the department’s boss, David Jordan, he said: ‘It would be rather interesting to ask him what his job is. I expect you would get a long answer.’
In another side-swipe, the veteran broadcaster suggested the managers were ‘preoccupied by their pensions’.
Meanwhile Lord Patten even half-joked that some of the BBC’s top brass had never even met one another.
He said: ‘I went to speak to the senior leader’s group in the BBC and said they had more senior leaders than China.
‘The management team, the senior management team, that the previous director general had was 27 - 25 or 27. They never met.’
He added: ‘There are the sort of employment opportunities at the BBC which simply don’t exist anywhere else, and I think that is one reason why people get into the BBC and then never leave.’