BBC should be 'put beyond reach of politicians', says Observer boss

The Observer's editor-in-chief has called for the BBC to beryllium "put beyond the scope of politicians" - and has compared the combat for endurance wrong tv to the zombie fungus successful The Last Of Us.

Speaking to Sky News astir his James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture astatine the Edinburgh TV Festival connected Wednesday, James Harding said it "is not the aureate property of TV, it's much similar The Last Of Us… conscionable trying to enactment live arsenic the fungus of caller things eats done each of us".

The co-founder of Tortoise Media - which bought The Observer from the Scott Trust and Guardian Media Group successful December - said helium believes establishing the independency of the BBC is captious "if we privation to physique assurance successful shared facts and respect for the truth".

"At the infinitesimal politicians take the chairman, they take the licence fee, they person tremendous power implicit it," helium said.

"Let's look it, there's a suspicion that there's a definite worldview attached to the BBC. Let's marque definite that it's evident to radical that really antithetic points of presumption are truly welcome."

Mr Harding, who ran the BBC's quality and existent affairs programming from 2013 up until the opening of 2018, said the authorities indispensable see separating itself from the institution.

He explained: "When the authorities established the independency of the Bank of England successful 1997, it enactment assurance successful the cardinal instauration of the system up of politics; the authorities contiguous tin and should bash the aforesaid for the shared instauration successful our nine by giving existent independency to the BBC."

The BBC has been criticised for a fig of incidents successful caller months, including breaching its ain accuracy editorial guidelines and livestreaming the arguable Bob Vylan Glastonbury set, wherever determination were chants of: "Death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]".

Following the incident, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said ministers expected "accountability astatine the highest levels" for the BBC's determination to surface the performance.

In his lecture, Mr Harding said the BBC is "not institutionally antisemitic" and that: "Whatever your presumption of the hate speech versus state of code issues, an overbearing authorities curate doesn't assistance anyone.

"The hiring and firing of the editor-in-chief of the country's starring newsroom and taste organisation should not beryllium the occupation of a politician. It's chilling."

Ahead of the BBC charter renewal successful 2027, helium said the corporation's "survival is astatine stake".

He argued that the BBC seat and committee of directors should beryllium "chosen, not by the premier minister, but by the committee itself and then, similar different specified organisations, with the support of Ofcom.

"The charter should beryllium open-ended. And the licence interest - oregon immoderate aboriginal backing statement - should not beryllium decided down closed doors by the civilization caput and the chancellor, but, arsenic successful Germany, acceptable transparently and rationally by an autarkic committee that impartially advises authorities and is scrutinised by parliament."

He besides said the BBC should pb the mode successful striking deals with generative AI companies by taking vantage of the "meaningful pricing of its reliable, ceaselessly renewed room of content.

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"That would assistance acceptable the presumption for different UK quality and media companies that don't get a proceeding from the caller procreation of tech giants," helium said.

Mr Harding suggested that the BBC should look to enactment with AI developers to supply a "BBC GPT" that could alteration the nationalist to utilise AI "without handing implicit each past item of what's connected their minds to US tech corporations that person proved obstinately unaccountable successful the UK."

He said it's "about much than the BBC, it's a nationalist concern successful our aboriginal that volition travel backmost to reap multi-platform rewards that an concern successful nary different UK organisation can."

Edinburgh TV Festival runs from 19 - 22 August.