Post by Teddy Bear on Sept 28, 2009 21:27:31 GMT
As you'll read below, it's not what you know, it's who you know, especially if the money to pay for this top post comes out of the public purse, and does not have to be earned. Not only does the one who got this position have no jounalistic experience, he doesn't even come close to the educational qualifications that the BBC advertised for.
Meet BBC News's £150,000 'star' arts editor. He's never reported or presented TV and he needs three months' training
By Miles Goslett
The BBC has appointed a 'maverick and eccentric' public relations executive with virtually no journalistic experience as its new £150,000-a-year arts editor.
The decision to give one of the Corporation's best-paid reporting jobs to Will Gompertz, media director at the Tate group of museums, has already proved contentious, with the suggestion he landed the job because of close links to senior BBC executives.
It has been rumoured that one of the other candidates, long-standing BBC arts correspondent Razia Iqbal, may even take legal action against her bosses over the appointment.
Asked whether she was considering such a move, 47-year-old Miss Iqbal would only say: 'I think it would be a mistake to discuss this and I would much prefer to say nothing than to say something that is likely to be distorted.'
Described by one BBC source as a 'complete maverick and an eccentric', Gompertz last month performed a one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe, during which he asked the audience to draw pictures of penises.
The BBC admitted that the 44-year-old will require around three months of media training after he begins the role in December.
A spokesman refused to say how much this would cost or which company would provide it.
One senior BBC source said that Gompertz boasts personal links to both BBC creative director and presenter Alan Yentob and BBC director-general Mark Thompson.
It is understood that Mr Thompson created the arts editor role after attending a dinner party last year where chairman of the Arts Council Dame Liz Forgan, theatre director Sir Richard Eyre and arts supremo Sir John Tusa challenged him over why the BBC had no such position.
Another source said that Thompson was 'bruised' by the incident and shortly afterwards created the new post 'on the hoof' after 'minimal consultation' with BBC executives.
As well as Miss Iqbal, several leading arts journalists are understood to have applied for the job, including Radio 4 presenter John Wilson and Newsnight culture correspondent Stephen Smith.
Sunday Times arts editor Richard Brooks was also linked to the post. However, he denied that he had applied for it.
An advertisement for the post stipulated that the arts editor 'should be a senior and influential journalist and will be expected to report on radio, TV and online'.
The advert also stressed that the candidate should be educated to university-degree level at least. Gompertz dropped out of school and became a stagehand at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in Central London at the age of 18.
Due to his lack of experience as a reporter, and because he failed to take his A-levels, it was to general surprise that Gompertz was chosen.
He will not be able to begin work in earnest until next March and will be unavailable for the first assignment originally proposed for the post - announcing the winner of the Man Booker Prize on the Ten O'Clock News on October 6.
According to a source linked with the job, Gompertz has a 'good' friendship with Yentob, who was not on the BBC's selection panel.
Yentob has filmed some of his BBC1 arts series Imagine at the Tate galleries and attended many of their cocktail parties.
He and Gompertz also carry out work for the charity Kids Company, of which Yentob is chairman of trustees. Last November, Gompertz organised a jumble sale for the charity which raised £50,000.
The same source said that Gompertz had got to know Mark Thompson after repeatedly meeting him on weekday mornings on the London-bound train from Oxford, where both live.
Liberal Democrat arts spokesman Don Foster said: 'Speaking as a licence-payer and not an MP, it seems to me that while the job of the arts is to be controversial, the job of an arts presenter is very different.
'It would be reasonable to expect somebody in a senior position to have experience of television presentation. Appointing somebody with a very limited track record of television journalism should cause concern.'
Gompertz - who recently said Strictly Come Dancing was the 'new gold standard' of television arts programming as it 'reintroduced a massive audience to the idea of self-expression through movement' - was a founding director of publishers Purple House and Shots.
He lives in a North Oxford house which he bought for £1million in December 2005, with his wife Catherine.
A BBC spokesman said: 'The job was advertised in the normal way on the BBC's job website in June.
'Thirteen people were interviewed in the first round and five in the second. Will Gompertz applied and got the role. Mark Thompson played no part in the selection process.'
Gompertz has not given a full interview since he got the job, but he did tell the Guardian newspaper earlier this month: 'I always thought I would never leave [The Tate], but when Mark Thompson announced they were creating this role, I thought it was something to be applauded.'
He did not return The Mail on Sunday's calls seeking comment on his new appointment.
By Miles Goslett
The BBC has appointed a 'maverick and eccentric' public relations executive with virtually no journalistic experience as its new £150,000-a-year arts editor.
The decision to give one of the Corporation's best-paid reporting jobs to Will Gompertz, media director at the Tate group of museums, has already proved contentious, with the suggestion he landed the job because of close links to senior BBC executives.
It has been rumoured that one of the other candidates, long-standing BBC arts correspondent Razia Iqbal, may even take legal action against her bosses over the appointment.
Asked whether she was considering such a move, 47-year-old Miss Iqbal would only say: 'I think it would be a mistake to discuss this and I would much prefer to say nothing than to say something that is likely to be distorted.'
Described by one BBC source as a 'complete maverick and an eccentric', Gompertz last month performed a one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe, during which he asked the audience to draw pictures of penises.
The BBC admitted that the 44-year-old will require around three months of media training after he begins the role in December.
A spokesman refused to say how much this would cost or which company would provide it.
One senior BBC source said that Gompertz boasts personal links to both BBC creative director and presenter Alan Yentob and BBC director-general Mark Thompson.
It is understood that Mr Thompson created the arts editor role after attending a dinner party last year where chairman of the Arts Council Dame Liz Forgan, theatre director Sir Richard Eyre and arts supremo Sir John Tusa challenged him over why the BBC had no such position.
Another source said that Thompson was 'bruised' by the incident and shortly afterwards created the new post 'on the hoof' after 'minimal consultation' with BBC executives.
As well as Miss Iqbal, several leading arts journalists are understood to have applied for the job, including Radio 4 presenter John Wilson and Newsnight culture correspondent Stephen Smith.
Sunday Times arts editor Richard Brooks was also linked to the post. However, he denied that he had applied for it.
An advertisement for the post stipulated that the arts editor 'should be a senior and influential journalist and will be expected to report on radio, TV and online'.
The advert also stressed that the candidate should be educated to university-degree level at least. Gompertz dropped out of school and became a stagehand at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in Central London at the age of 18.
Due to his lack of experience as a reporter, and because he failed to take his A-levels, it was to general surprise that Gompertz was chosen.
He will not be able to begin work in earnest until next March and will be unavailable for the first assignment originally proposed for the post - announcing the winner of the Man Booker Prize on the Ten O'Clock News on October 6.
According to a source linked with the job, Gompertz has a 'good' friendship with Yentob, who was not on the BBC's selection panel.
Yentob has filmed some of his BBC1 arts series Imagine at the Tate galleries and attended many of their cocktail parties.
He and Gompertz also carry out work for the charity Kids Company, of which Yentob is chairman of trustees. Last November, Gompertz organised a jumble sale for the charity which raised £50,000.
The same source said that Gompertz had got to know Mark Thompson after repeatedly meeting him on weekday mornings on the London-bound train from Oxford, where both live.
Liberal Democrat arts spokesman Don Foster said: 'Speaking as a licence-payer and not an MP, it seems to me that while the job of the arts is to be controversial, the job of an arts presenter is very different.
'It would be reasonable to expect somebody in a senior position to have experience of television presentation. Appointing somebody with a very limited track record of television journalism should cause concern.'
Gompertz - who recently said Strictly Come Dancing was the 'new gold standard' of television arts programming as it 'reintroduced a massive audience to the idea of self-expression through movement' - was a founding director of publishers Purple House and Shots.
He lives in a North Oxford house which he bought for £1million in December 2005, with his wife Catherine.
A BBC spokesman said: 'The job was advertised in the normal way on the BBC's job website in June.
'Thirteen people were interviewed in the first round and five in the second. Will Gompertz applied and got the role. Mark Thompson played no part in the selection process.'
Gompertz has not given a full interview since he got the job, but he did tell the Guardian newspaper earlier this month: 'I always thought I would never leave [The Tate], but when Mark Thompson announced they were creating this role, I thought it was something to be applauded.'
He did not return The Mail on Sunday's calls seeking comment on his new appointment.