BRITAIN: Fears for the BBC's independence receded yesterday when former Channel 4 and BBC Television boss Mr Michael Grade was confirmed as the new chairman of the corporation's board of governors.
The charismatic Mr Grade immediately vowed to put the BBC "back on track" after the trauma of the Hutton report, confidently telling BBC staff: "The period of private anguish inside the BBC is over now. We can put it behind us."
Hundreds of staff applauded the new chairman when he held a press conference at the corporation's White City building in west London. More significantly, the Conservative Party lined up to applaud Culture Secretary Ms Tessa Jowell's appointment of someone she described as "a chairman the BBC can be truly proud of".
Confirming that he was the unanimous choice for the job, Ms Jowell enthused: "Michael is the right man at the right time. He has a passion for broadcasting, especially public service broadcasting. He knows it inside out. And he has the energy to lead the BBC from the front, defending its independence and integrity from all-comers."
The shadow culture minister, Ms Julie Kirkbride, said that Mr Grade's experience made him the ideal candidate for the job, while his "colourful and occasionally controversial" character would be relished by the corporation. Even Lord Tebbit, former Conservative chairman and onetime scourge of the BBC, described the appointment as "promising".
Mr Grade's predecessor, Mr Gavin Davies - who resigned in the bitter aftermath of the Hutton inquiry - said that Mr Grade was a man to take the BBC to "great new heights". Offering his "warmest congratulations", Mr Davies added: "The prime minister has had the good sense, as I knew he would, to appoint a strong, independent and popular person to this vital job."
That point was underlined by one of the UK's leading media experts, who told The Irish Times that the Blair government had been "terrified" by the public reaction to the Hutton report. "Hutton was the worst possible outcome (for the government) in terms of public estimation," he said. "That in turn forced ministers to the conclusion that only the appointment of someone strong, independent and unbiddable could serve their own purposes."
Mr Grade, who takes up his post on May 17th, said that the boundaries defining the BBC governors' role as both champions and regulators of the corporation had become blurred and now required "urgent clarification if not repair".
He declared: "The editorial independence of the BBC is paramount in maintaining the support of the viewers and listeners. Without it, there is no point to the BBC. It is my job, and the job of the whole board, to ensure that the BBC can continue to earn public and parliamentary support so that the provision of universally-available, value-for-money public service broadcasting is neither jeopardised nor marginalised."