Bloated Beeb makes too many headlines for wrong reasons

TIME TO RESIGN: Tim Davie failed to change culture

- Tim Newark

FROM star newsreaders abusing their power and position, to staff and contributors posting antisemitic content on social media, and even the funding of Hamas propaganda, it is clear the BBC has become too big and too wrongheaded to manage itself.

Despite his best efforts, it's clear director-general Tim Davie has failed to change the culture at the Corporation and should resign. The bottom line is that, for a news organisation, the BBC is too frequently making its own headlines while undermining its remit of impartiality.

Its flagship cooking show MasterChef is in meltdown over host Gregg Wallace's behaviour, and allegations his co-presenter John Torode used racist language upheld earlier this week in the report into the debacle. Torode was sacked yesterday. Wallace, who has been told he cannot work for the BBC, joins the ranks of quintessential figureheads like newsreader Huw Edwards who allowed their own sexual quirks to destroy their careers.

More importantly, however, the BBC's international reputation as the world's most famous broadcaster, committed to balanced, nonprejudicial reporting, has been rocked by two recent incidents as well as a stream of low-level criticism.