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Richard James Ayre was a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation until its abolition in 2016. He is a former member for England of the Ofcom Content Board and chair of its Broadcast Review Committee. He was formerly a BBC journalist, first as a radio and television reporter in Belfast through the 1970s, before becoming the Home News Editor in London (1979–84), Head of BBC Westminster (1989–93), Controller of Editorial Policy (1993–96) and Deputy Chief Executive of BBC News (1996–2000).
In retirement he has broadcast from time to time on media issues, and conducted interviews as part of the BBC Oral Archive project. He is a trustee of the Egyptian Exploration Society, the charity which has sponsored archaeological excavations and research in Egypt for the past 140 years. In April 2022 he was appointed chair of the board of independent press regulator IMPRESS. [1] He is married to the artist Guy Burch.
Ayre was educated at Hastings Grammar School, a former state grammar school (now known as Ark Alexandra Academy), in the seaside town of Hastings in East Sussex, followed by University College at Durham University, during which time he was President of Durham Students' Union (1970—1971). He was also Editor of Palatinate for Michaelmas term of 1969. [2] His first journalistic scoop was witnessing an escape from Durham prison by John McVicar that he quickly reported in an interview with the BBC's Kate Adie, then a very junior local radio reporter. The incident is described in McVicar's biography McVicar by Himself.
Ayre began his professional career as a reporter in Northern Ireland. In 1988, the then Home Secretary Douglas Hurd banned Sinn Féin from the airwaves in response to Irish Republican Army bombing campaigns. It was seen by many as extremely damaging to freedom of speech and the press in Britain. When Ayre became Controller of Editorial Policy he took legal advice and was satisfied that the prohibition could not stop the use of actors' voices to replace the more cumbersome use of subtitling. [3] This is credited as having rendered the prohibition increasingly ridiculous. He also re-wrote the BBC's Producer Guidelines into the most comprehensive manual of programme-making ethics, which became a model for many broadcasters worldwide. He established Britain's first bi-media (television and radio) centre at BBC Millbank, introducing the first digital editing to British network journalism. In 1995, Ayre played a key part in steering the Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales to air – a decision which infuriated the BBC's then Chairman Marmaduke Hussey. [4] Lords Hall and Birt have declined to be interviewed about the débâcle and, with the death of Steve Hewlett, Ayre has been the only person directly concerned prepared to be interviewed about it and the subsequent controversy caused by the actions of the reporter Martin Bashir. [5]
In March 2010, the government announced that Ayre was to join the BBC Trust - the governing body of the Corporation - replacing fellow journalist Richard Tait. [6] Reappointed in 2014, Ayre chaired the Editorial Standards committee of the Trust, the final court of appeal for audience complaints about BBC content.
Richard Ayre became a founder member of the board of the Food Standards Agency, [7] which pioneered open access with web casts of board meetings and fully published documentation. He was Chair of Article 19 (2003-2005), and was Freedom of Information Adjudicator for the Law Society (2001-2015). [8] He led Ofcom's 2007 enquiry into abuse of premium rate telephone services in television programmes. [9] He conducted a review of broadcasting in Kuwait following the invasion by Iraq, and following the allied invasion he chaired the Editorial Review Board for Al Mirbad – the first independent Iraqi-run radio and TV station. [10]
Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1988–1997), chairman of the board of governors of the BBC (2004–2006), and executive chairman of ITV plc (2007–2009). He sat as a Conservative Party life peer in the House of Lords from 2011 until after his appointment as Chair of Ofcom.
Panorama is a British current affairs documentary programme broadcast on the BBC. First broadcast in 1953, it is the world's longest-running television news magazine programme.
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service has over 5,500 Journalists working across its output including in 50 foreign news bureaus where more than 250 foreign correspondents are stationed.
Richard Graham Tait CBE is a British journalist and Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University. He had been a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and was replaced by Richard Ayre.
This article outlines, in chronological order, the various controversies surrounding or involving the BBC.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) took its present form on 1 January 1927 when John Reith became its first Director-General. Reith stated that impartiality and objectivity were the essence of professionalism in its broadcasting. Allegations that the corporation lacks impartial and objective journalism are regularly made by observers on both the left and the right of the political spectrum. Another key area of criticism is the mandatory licence fee, as commercial competitors argue that means of financing to be unfair and to result in limiting their ability to compete with the BBC. Additionally, accusations of waste or over-staffing occasionally prompt comments from politicians and the other media.
Phil Harding is a journalist, broadcaster and media consultant. Previously he was a producer, editor and senior executive at the BBC.
Palatinate is the student newspaper of Durham University. One of Britain's oldest student publications, Palatinate is frequently ranked as one of the leading student outlets in the UK and Ireland, winning Best Publication in the Student Publication Association's 2018 and 2021 national awards. In the same year Palatinate was Highly Commended in the Best Publication category of the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme's Student Journalism Awards. Several of its editors have gone on to gain national recognition in journalism.
Sara Catherine Nathan is a former British broadcaster who now sits on the boards of a number of public bodies.
The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of licence-fee payers. On 12 May 2016, it was announced in the House of Commons that, under the next royal charter, the regulatory functions of the BBC Trust were to be transferred to Ofcom.
Stewart Peter Purvis CBE is a British broadcaster, broadcasting executive, author and academic.
Andy Duncan is CEO of Travelopia Holdings Limited, based in Crawley, UK. He was previously CEO of Camelot Limited, the operator of the UK National Lottery. Duncan started his career at Unilever – where he spent 17 years in a variety of senior managerial roles – before he was appointed director of Marketing, Communications and Audiences at the BBC. Duncan then became chief executive of Britain's Channel 4 television channel from July 2004 to November 2009 – the first not to have a background in programme making – and was the founding chairman of Freeview. After a year as CEO of H.R. Owen plc, the UK's leading luxury car business, he became UK managing director of Camelot in October 2011 and was subsequently appointed UK CEO in October 2014. Duncan was appointed President of the Advertising Association in January 2014.
John Paul Sweeney is a British investigative journalist and writer. He worked for The Observer newspaper, and the BBC's Panorama and Newsnight series. Sweeney ceased working for the BBC in October 2019.
George Edward Entwistle is a former broadcasting executive, who was Director-General of the BBC during 2012, succeeding Mark Thompson. After a career in magazine journalism, he joined BBC Television in 1989, becoming a producer with a primary focus on factual and political programmes. He rose to become the director of BBC Vision, and became the Director-General of the BBC on 17 September 2012.
Richard Lindley MBE was a British television journalist. As a foreign correspondent, he was noted for reporting from war zones for the BBC's Panorama and for ITV.
Stephen Edward Hewlett was a British print, radio and TV journalist, and visiting professor of Journalism and Broadcast Policy at the University of Salford.
GB News is a British free-to-air, opinion-orientated news television and radio channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet on Samsung TV Plus and YouTube. An audio simulcast of the station is also available on DAB+ radio.
The 2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal, sometimes referred to in the press as simply the phone-in scandal relates to a series of controversies regarding the use of premium-rate telephone numbers by several British television and radio broadcasters. The first revelations began in February 2007 regarding the Channel 4 television programme Richard & Judy. However, over the following weeks, more allegations emerged regarding misconduct by major British broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The programmes affected included phone-in competitions and public votes conducted over several years, dating back to 2001. As a result, adjudicators Ofcom and ICSTIS conducted several investigations, resulting in millions of pounds worth of fines and a reform in the use of PRS by broadcasters.
"An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales" is an episode of the BBC documentary series Panorama which was broadcast on BBC1 on 20 November 1995. The 54-minute programme saw Diana, Princess of Wales, interviewed by journalist Martin Bashir about her relationship with her husband, Charles, Prince of Wales, and the reasons for their subsequent separation. The programme was watched by nearly 23 million viewers in the UK. The worldwide audience was estimated at 200 million across 100 countries. In the UK, the National Grid reported a 1,000 MW surge in demand for power after the programme. At the time, the BBC hailed the interview as the scoop of a generation.