BBC director general Tim Davie has “kind of banned” referring to high-profile on-screen staff as “talent” following a rash of controversies involving senior presenters.
Davie was speaking after the BBC launched an independent review of its workplace culture after scandals including the one surrounding the disgraced presenter Huw Edwards.
Other controversies have included a furore over the welfare of contestants on the 2023 season of Strictly Come Dancing, and the sacking of the presenter Jermaine Jenas after complaints about his workplace conduct.
Speaking to Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme with the BBC in the midst of an an independent review of workplace culture following scandals surrounding news anchor Huw Edwards, welfare complaints about contestants on Strictly Come Dancing, and the sacking of One Show host Jermaine Jenas over ‘workplace conduct,’ Davie said no one at the corporation was “indispensable”.
He told Robinson: “We often refer to people like yourself as talent, but I’ve kind of banned that. You’re a presenter, I’m a leader of the organisation, and we’re here to serve.
“I do think over the last decade or so we’ve seen fundamental changes in the culture in this industry, and it hasn’t been completely unique [to the BBC that] those that have had power in places can often use that in bad ways. I think the BBC is utterly committed – you see us acting in good faith to get at this [issue] – and I would say [it is] important that everyone is treated equally regardless of rank.”
Grahame Russell, the executive chair and founder of the management consultancy Change Associates, is heading up the ongoing review into the BBC’s workplace culture, which Davie told Robinson would be helpful for “sorting this culture.”
The BBC chief was also asked if there had been any progress on Edwards returning the estimated £200,000 salary he was paid between his arrest and leaving the corporation in April. He said there had been “some dialogue with the lawyers, but we’re yet to resolve that issue.”
Asked if he believed the money would be returned, Davie firmly opened the floor to Edwards and his representatives, saying: “I think the ball is clearly not in my court on that one.”
