Altogether now – awwwww:
This is the hardest e-mail I’ve ever written.
In a few minutes I’ll be announcing to the outside world that I’m leaving after four years as Director General [of the BBC]. I don’t want to go and I’ll miss everyone here hugely.However the management of the BBC was heavily criticised in the Hutton Report and as the Director General I am responsible for the management so it’s right I take responsibility for what happened.
I accept that the BBC made errors of judgement and I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that it will be hard to draw a line under this whole affair while I am still here. We need closure. We need closure to protect the future of the BBC, not for you or me but for the benefit of everyone out there. It might sound pompous but I believe the BBC really matters.
Throughout this affair my sole aim as Director General of the BBC has been to defend our editorial independence and to act in the public interest.
In four years we’ve achieved a lot between us. I believe we’ve changed the place fundamentally and I hope that those changes will last beyond me. The BBC has always been a great organisation but I hope that, over the last four years, I’ve helped to make it a more human place where everyone who works here feels appreciated. If that’s anywhere near true I leave contented, if sad.
Thank you all for the help and support you’ve given me. This might sound a bit schmaltzy but I really will miss you all. I’ve enjoyed the last four years more than any other time in my working life.
Raines. Boyd. Davies. Dyke. Does it get any better for fair journalism? The Beeb’s spoiled brats, meanwhile, are livid.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “It is wrong for the United States to force other countries to become democratic. True, facism and tyranny are the opposite of what we believe in, but going over to another country and deposing facist dictators or tyrants to replace them with our political system is nothing but American imperialism, which runs contrary to democracy. As a Salvadorean who lived thru the turmoil of Central America’s communist insurrection in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I can tell you that revolutions are never imported; they rise from within. Going over to Iraq and bombing the hell out of that country because our misguided prez thought that there were WMD’s there aimed at our shores is almost justified; but saying that we went to Iraq to depose a dictator and ‘free’ the Iraqis so that they could become a democracy is shameful and a crime.” Yep, for some on the left, the liberation of people from tyranny is indeed now a shame and a crime. More feedback on the Letters Page.
The Dish 