Grade expectations
| 09:40 UK time, Tuesday, 28 November 2006
9:46pm - Everything's going well, we've got some good stories and we're confident we're going to tell them well. The phone rings - it's the Â鶹Éç's former business editor, Jeff Randall, and he's got a rather big scoop: Michael Grade is leaving the Â鶹Éç to become executive chairman of ITV.
It's a favour - and he's timed it perfectly, giving us just enough space to make sure we can get it on the TV (giving his Daily Telegraph front page a big plug while we're at it), but not enough to tip off his Fleet Street rivals. The place descends into organised chaos - can we get a second source? Can we get our media analyst, Nick Higham, on set in time? The headlines are swiftly re-written. We stand the story up - there is some colourful language from senior Â鶹Éç figures. Nick Higham is racing in.
10:03pm Nick tells me he is on - 10 minutes away. We talk through the implications.
10:13pm Cool as a cucumber, Nick Higham walks on set. He gives a brilliantly judged, totally unflustered, analysis of the story. This wasn't one we wanted to get wrong.
Comments
"10:03pm Nick tells me he is on the Westway - 10 minutes away. We talk through the implications"
Hands free mobile, I trust?
The Â鶹Éç does The Â鶹Éç. It has always amazed me how that works.
Ah, tu-chez, Hands free mobiles are the best! I like them so much.
This is not the way Â鶹Éç World Service reported it this morning. They said his departure came as a big surprise. They said it was expected he would guide Â鶹Éç through a coming transitionary period and now it's not clear who will replace him to do it.
They pointed out that he came to Â鶹Éç in the aftermath of the Hutton Report critical of reporting of events prior to the invasion of Iraq. Frankly, what caught the government's attention was the way Â鶹Éç treated the government itself. It really didn't probe into the deeper issues of whether or not Â鶹Éç paints any or all other issues with the same brush. Time for another new broom to sweep clean...or just keep sweeping more dirt under the rug?
You at the Â鶹Éç may care deeply about what your boss does. Please don't assume the rest of us do: this kind of navel gazing doesn't make the Â鶹Éç look good. In the global scheme of things, this just isn't a big story.
I hate the way this is reported. Last week, Travelex sacked it's CEO - did this make headline news? Of course not. Why? Nobody cares. So why make this headline news? Delusions of grandeur?!
I disagree with readers 5 and 6. This is about what's going on inside the media, and it's very important to know who is playing which role therein. The way the Â鶹Éç reports about a story in which she is involved (negatively) shows a modesty which is to be praised highly. Remember Grade leaves; he's not joining them.
If you know some German, have a look at this URL, a prominent media journalist congratulates the Â鶹Éç's coverage.
Sometimes the coverage of the media by the media can go too far in terms of the resources and time allocated to it, but one thing I would like to say is that the Â鶹Éç does a really good job on stories about itself. It is fair, impartial and presents all sides in the debate.
That can't be said for other news organisations like Sky News, where much of the coverage was just an anti-Â鶹Éç tirade involving the same old boring faces.
John Wrote:
I hate the way this is reported. Last week, Travelex sacked it's CEO - did this make headline news? Of course not. Why? Nobody cares. So why make this headline news? Delusions of grandeur?!
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Its slightly different: We fund the Â鶹Éç via the Licence fee so this news is quite important to the public at large.
As for the Â鶹Éç reporting the Â鶹Éç, the organisation did an excellent job reporting the Hutton report 'fallout'. I suspect this story is somewhat easier to cover.
It is easy to be critical when someone has gone but...
1) How many years does it take to set up the Â鶹Éç Trust?
2) Why aren´t his achievements news, rather than just his arrival and departure?
3) Where´s his blog? Today people expect leaders to articulate meaningful choices and decisions in some kind of tangible personal form like a blog.
4) If you spend a couple of years negotiating, without producing a tangible result, have you been a success at your job?
The Â鶹Éç should be filled with people who are prepared to express their opinion regularly and clearly. It´s not enough just to have social connections and character. There´s almost an assumption that there´s no need for accountability and any assessment of strategic success or failure is assumed irrelevant.
Of course I wish him great success in his new role :)