‘Insider’ boss to target BBC’s bureaucracy

The director-general, who started work on Monday, yesterday told staff that too often the organisation settles “for less than we should”.

He used a speech to announce the formation of a new management board of 12 to replace the 25-strong BBC “direction group”.

Mr Entwistle also announced the closure of the operations division headed by Caroline Thomson and her departure.

He said the changes would turn the BBC into “a more creative organisation, led and managed in a radically simplified way”.

He added: “I intend to change the way we’re led to put the emphasis where it belongs – on creative people doing creative things; on our audiences and the exceptional quality of work they deserve”.

Speaking to staff on the BBC’s internal video channel, he said: “Though our best is often brilliant - in some of our output, we do settle for less than we should. So I believe we owe our audiences a determined effort to raise the creative quality of what we do.”

He said he inherited “an organisation in robust health”.

Mr Entwistle, a former director of BBC Vision and ex-editor of Newsnight, said his position as an “internal candidate” means he knows “what holds us back – the things we need to stop”.

Among the problems he listed were “the silos, internal competition, the duplication, the jockeying for position. And at its worst, the leaking, the briefing against other people and other departments – and the sheer waste of energy and money that results”.

He said the BBC had to use “the Olympics formula and make it work again” on events including the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and Wimbledon.