Some BBC-related reading to accompany your Sunday breakfast...
It is not necessarily the best course to replace a male presenter with a female one. Sara Cox is not as good as Clive Anderson at hosting Radio 4’s Loose Ends. Talking to Cliff Richard last Saturday, her anxiety flooded the airwaves and drowned the show.
Nor is it inevitable that one woman will do as well as another in any job. Lauren Laverne, standing in for Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs, is a severe disappointment, all marshmallow, no nuts. The BBC, in haste to correct years of discrimination in appointments and remuneration, is doing no one any favours by preferment apparently based more on gender than on ability.
Secondly, Adam Boulton in The Sunday Times:
The BBC is world-famous for a decision-making structure of a complexity matched only by that of the Indian civil service. For a while it looked as though understandable editorial qualms might prevent a counterbid [over the Brexit Deal debate]. But [Robbie] Gibb makes no secret of his admiration for the BBC over all other broadcasters, and has close personal ties to many of his former colleagues in news and current affairs. There is a certain kind of BBC person incapable of talking about anything other than the BBC. The corporation’s eventual proposal was to May’s liking: no live audience and questions from a panel of businesspeople, who, in desperation, are inclining towards her agreement.
Thirdly, The Mail on Sunday:
- New BBC Sounds app allowing users to listen to the radio and download shows is slammed despite £10million marketing campaign.
- Listeners flooded social media with complaints about the BBC's new service.
- One said the app was worse than the iPlayer Radio that it will replace next year.
- BBC Sounds brings 18 national and 40 local radio stations together in one app.
- A BBC spokesman said: 'BBC Sounds is already superior to the iPlayer Radio app.'
