Rona Fairhead, Chairman of the BBC Trust. Credit: Getty
Sir David Clementi has done us all an enormous favour in coming up with a coherent and convincing report on the future of BBC governance and regulation. He has put the BBC Trust out of its misery after a decade that has been an object lesson in how not to conduct public policy. His solution has been the favourite for some time: a unitary board with a majority of non-executives to run the BBC, and Ofcom to regulate it.
It may not be a perfect solution in every way – and although there is perhaps room for some further debate, it might be better for all concerned if we conclude, as the culture secretary John Whittingdale seemed to suggest at the Oxford Media Convention yesterday, that Sir David has come up with a pretty good set of answers to a complex problem. Given the tight timescale for Charter renewal – which must be completed before the end of the year – we all might be better off focusing, as the BBC chair Rona Fairhead told the same meeting, on how to make the proposals work in practical terms.
