Speech given to 大象传媒 staff on Mark Thompson's first day as Director-General
Tuesday 22 June 2004
Printable version
It seems about five minutes since I walked out of this building and
headed off to Channel 4. But plenty's happened since then. The 大象传媒's
changed and so have I.
For the 大象传媒: new services, a string of programming and
content triumphs.
The power of marketing especially cross-media, Freeview, Making it Happen.
A fresh sense of confidence and growth: bigger budgets, bigger ambitions,
some amazing new buildings. And then Hutton.
And as for me: well, for a start the experience of working
for a broadcaster where income is not guaranteed. Where the market and
what the big players do - and this includes the 大象传媒 - affects everything:
your programme budget, your ability to employ people, your chance to
reach new audiences or defend existing ones.
We ended up turning a big corner and I had a great time
at the channel. But my experience at 4 means that I come back to the
大象传媒 with fresh eyes.
I know the 大象传媒 and many of you, but to some extent I do think I can
look at this organisation and what it does with the detachment of an
outsider.
So what do I see?
The 大象传媒 from the outside
Well, first: incredible strength. From the inside the 大象传媒 can feel like
a very fragile thing.
What you see from outside is just the sheer wealth of talent. The incredible
bond with the British public. The scale of what the 大象传媒 can achieve,
especially when it works together - whether it's to launch Restoration
or the Proms or to save DTT.
Under Greg, I and many other people also saw a 大象传媒 which seemed more
at ease with itself. Happier. Less paranoid, less prone to back-biting.
It was an organisation with a new focus on audiences.
Yet one which also sometimes seemed so intent on its internal conversation
that it almost forgot about the outside world.
An organisation whose tone of voice could sometimes sound spikey and
defensive, arrogant even.
During my last couple of years inside the 大象传媒, I remember thinking:
Thank God we're finally able to stand up and defend the 大象传媒. When I
left, I thought: Wow, is that what we sound like from the outside?
One of the reasons the 大象传媒 has stayed on top for more
than 80 years is because it's always been very tough on itself, especially
when it came to its values and standards and its effectiveness.
The work done by Greg and other senior leaders on the 大象传媒's values and
its internal culture has been very good. But there have been moments
when I've wondered whether it's been tough enough on itself in other
ways.
Then there's change. Both Greg and his predecessor John
Birt, arrived at the 大象传媒 with a big change agenda.
You know the list - it hasn't altered much over the years.
Cut bureaucracy and overheads, modernise management, simplify processes.
Use new technology and a more skilled workforce to improve quality and
value for money.
Improve working across the 大象传媒 and between the 大象传媒 and its external
partners and stakeholders.
Talking to some people at the 大象传媒 you get the sense
that they think they've done change, in fact they've had a skinful of
it, thank you very much - projects, working parties, initiatives, out-sourcing,
new ways of working, you name it.
But you know from the outside - and you may not want
to hear this - it feels like the task of really changing the 大象传媒 has
only begun.
Our world - the world of broadcasting and media - is itself changing
with the speed of an express train.
We face amazing new challenges and opportunities.
What they mean is that we're going to have to change the 大象传媒 more rapidly
and radically over the next three to five years than at any previous
point in its history.
The next chapter
One week from today, our Chairman Michael
Grade and I will launch the 大象传媒's vision of its future - our contribution
to the debate about our Charter.
I first read the draft of this vision a few weeks ago.
I was a bit apprehensive really - it was a bit late to start from scratch!
But I needn't have worried. Over recent months, the senior team at the
大象传媒 and its Governors have done a brilliant job in shaping a clear and
confident view of its future.
And they all knew that this time round complacency and smugness wouldn't
cut it - there had to be a willingness to confront the need for change
and to take some of the criticisms made about the 大象传媒 seriously.
I want to pay tribute to Mark
Byford, who has done a brilliant job as Acting Director General.
Also to our fantastic Director of Strategy, Carolyn
Fairbairn, who's been the main architect of the piece.
I've now had a chance to add my input, I've been able to write significant
bits of the final draft myself, and I can stand behind the whole thing.
This part of our future is not just about a handful of people at the
top of the 大象传媒. It has involved thousands and thousands and I hope you
will see your contribution reflected in the document.
The people who founded the 大象传媒 believed that broadcasting could make
the world a better place.
Public intervention would ensure that its astonishing creative power
- to enrich individuals with knowledge, culture and information about
their world, to build more cohesive and productive communities, to engage
the people of Britain and the whole globe in a new conversation about
who we are and where we are going - would be put to work to the sole
benefit of the public.
Now we believe that that is still the point of the 大象传媒.
In fact, we believe that over the next decade the 大象传媒 will have a bigger
role than ever in building public value.
By helping to lead the challenge of building a digital Britain.
By making sure that everyone - not just the better off or the media
savvy or those who choose or can afford to subscribe, but everyone -
can share in the benefits of the new broadcasting.
By raising standards everywhere in content, whether in traditional TV
and radio or in new media.
And by finding new ways of making that content available to audiences
whenever and wherever they want it.
By creating a far more open, responsive, agile 大象传媒.
Those are some of the themes of our vision. I won't
spoil it by going into any more detail - but I will come back to brief
you in much greater detail first thing next Tuesday morning on the ringmain.
I think our document is full of exciting, inspiring ideas. I hope it's
going to inspire all of you.
I believe we can look forward to one of the best - maybe
the best - periods in the 大象传媒's history, in which the combination of
the new technologies and our audiences' hunger for outstanding British
content give us a chance of becoming an even more indispensible part
of this country's national life.
And in which the creative opportunities for 大象传媒 people - to experiment
and to excel - are greater than ever.
Greg was right: the 大象传媒 should feel strong and confident.
Confronting some realities
But achieving this vision - and convincing the world
that we really intend to achieve it - is going to mean confronting some
new questions.
I believe that the licence payer has a right to expect
an amazing breadth of services from the 大象传媒.
And the public really uses that breadth, with intense loyalty to our
traditional services and a real appetite to sample the new ones: the
amazing growth of bbc.co.uk is one example of that.
So a 大象传媒 which is big in terms of services is essential.
But how deep should the 大象传媒 be? How big, in other words, in terms of
vertical integration, of departments, in-house operations and commercial
subsidiaries?
Some of the 大象传媒's critics, of course, argue that it's far too big -
not that they ever offer much evidence to back up that assertion.
As part of our preparation for the Charter Renewal process, we're going
to launch some reviews of different parts of the 大象传媒 to address these
questions in a rational, evidence-based way.
Now I know some people may be pretty unsettled when
they hear about this. What I would say to you is that we're going to
go into this with a genuinely open mind.
And you should be clear that these are questions which are not going
to go away. If we did not examine them thoroughly ourselves, others
would do it for us. I'll talk a bit more about the reviews in a few
minutes.
Something else we must do is take a fresh look at value-for-money
and costs.
I guess many of you will have realised already that the period of buoyancy
and rapid growth is over.
The financial picture I see coming back in the 大象传媒 is a tight one. Every
bit of the licence fee has been allocated to the end of the current
Charter - and this year the 大象传媒 is spending more than its income. That's
planned, but nonetheless it's something to keep an eye on.
As we are now in debt, we need to keep a very careful control on cash
- we cannot risk exceeding our statutory borrowing-limit.
Overheads have come down quite a bit, but still represent 拢320m
a year, which must be too much.
And we face some new financial burdens.
To pick one, it's likely that - whatever we decide in terms of staff
contributions to the pension fund - the 大象传媒, in common with many other
UK employers, will have to increase its contributions by many tens of
millions of pounds to ensure that the 大象传媒's pension fund remains secure.
Going forward, we face enormous fresh calls on investment
- not least some of those exciting ideas in our Charter vision, especially
the 大象传媒's role in helping to build digital Britain.
Well why not a bigger licence fee, you might ask?
Again, I think many of you will realise that any discussion with Government
about the future size of the licence fee is going to start with the
question of self-help.
The Government and the licence payers will quite rightly look to the
大象传媒 to solve its investment needs first and foremost by squeezing the
maximum possible value from its existing funds.
I intend to launch a pan-大象传媒 programme within the next
few weeks to achieve exactly that.
But it's also worth saying that these kind of programmes have sometimes
failed in the past, or delivered disappointing results, because they
didn't involve the people who know the most about where the money goes
- and who often have the best new ideas about how to use it more effectively:
and that's all of you.
Making It Happen has begun to unlock the amazing potential when everyone
in the organisation really gets together to discuss issues and solve
problems. It's going to be vital going forward.
We're going to have to be very careful about all our
costs - and that includes pay.
Given the financial realities, in the immediate run-up to the Charter
Review debate, and with relatively modest settlements in the rest of
the broadcasting sector, it would be little short of suicidal to countenance
an out-of-line pay increase this year.
We're going to have to work with all of our colleagues
to create a spirit of greater flexibility and open-mindedness about
the future 大象传媒.
I know for example that the proposed sale of 大象传媒 Technology is unpopular
with some people and certainly with the 大象传媒's unions. Even so, I'm sure
it's the right move.
We're not going to sell off the entire 大象传媒 - we will always have, extensive
in-house operations with all the expertise, security of supply, excellence
and creative heritage that they bring.
But divestment of a given operation when we believe it's in the interests
of the people who own the 大象传媒, our viewers and listeners, will continue
to be a valid and necessary choice from time to time.
We want to work very closely with all of you and with the unions - who
I met earlier today and with whom I want to strike up a strong working
relationship - to explore the issues associated with moves like the
Technology sale.
The future of 大象传媒 journalism
I want to turn now to a specific part of the 大象传媒's services, indeed
one of its most important: its journalism.
Journalism is one of this organisation's great glories.
The 大象传媒 has more talent and expertise than any other provider around
the world.
Investigative journalism, a key part of the mix, has made a real comeback
in recent years.
It's been good to see current affairs reviving on television, the extraordinary
range and texture of provision on radio, whether local, national, UK
or global, the coming-of-age of our online and interactive news services.
This is a success story and we should be proud of it.
But it's also true that 大象传媒 journalism has just been
through the worst crisis in its 80 year history - a crisis which cost
the 大象传媒 a chairman and a chief executive.
I'm not going to dwell on Hutton. My focus is on what we do now: what
lessons do we learn, how do we go forward, putting it behind us but
also minimizing the chances of anything like it ever happening again?
I've got three things to say about this.
First, this week we're going to publish and implement
the Neil report.
This is a report into the lessons of Kelly/Gilligan/Hutton conducted
by Ron Neil, a former head of news here, together with a great team
of senior editorial figures from inside and outside the 大象传媒.
The report had input and full buy-in from Richard
Sambrook and the rest of the leadership of 大象传媒 News. Its findings
were unanimous and have now been accepted in their entirety by the Board
of Governors.
We'll post the report on bbc.co.uk tomorrow and, if
you've any interest in 大象传媒 journalism inside or outside of our news
divisions, I'd urge you to take a look at it.
I won't pre-empt its findings, but I will say that one of the things
I like best about it is that it reminds us that - although, yes, we
do want our news and current affairs programmes and services to be accessible
to different audience-groups and, on major channels like 大象传媒 ONE and
Radio 4, to reach large numbers of viewers and listeners - ratings are
never the most important thing in our journalism. Nor, I might add,
in any of our other services.
Ron and his team set out what does matter most: truth
and accuracy; serving the public interest; fair-mindedness; impartiality;
diversity of opinion; independence; and accountability.
Those values may sound like apple pie, but they are the foundation of
everything we do. We forget them at our peril.
Ron focuses particularly on the leadership role of 大象传媒
editors and managers in instilling and maintaining those values.
Then he moves on to a whole host of specific recommendations, ranging
from points about the use of sources, note-taking, anonymity, fairness
in putting allegations to the person alleged against to some big new
ideas.
大象传媒 journalism is already strong in many ways and it already enjoys
widespread public trust. Ron's recommendations are a blueprint for making
it stronger - we're going to carry them out in full.
The second thing we're going to do shortly is to publish
our plans for a radical overhaul of the 大象传媒's complaints procedure.
Here the emphasis will be on greater transparency, objectivity and accountability.
It's also about a different attitude to complaints. We want to begin
with the presumption that the licence payer is right not wrong.
Some complaints will be fast-tracked - but it's an important principle
of the new procedure that fast-tracking should always be about the seriousness
of the complaint not about the status of the complainant. All complainants
should be treated fairly and equally.
Third, we're going to re-organise the editorial leadership
and management of journalism in the 大象传媒.
After Hutton, some people said that the Governors should split the roles
of Director-General and Editor-in-Chief altogether.
The Governors rejected that idea and rightly so.
I don't see how you can say you're in overall charge of the 大象传媒 but
somehow claim that you're not responsible for what actually appears
on its air-waves.
The Director-General must have final responsibility for what the 大象传媒
broadcasts and for the processes and structures it puts in place to
ensure that its journalism is fair-minded and accurate.
Nonetheless, I recognise that the 大象传媒's journalism will
require more continuous and concentrated editorial leadership at the
very top of the organisation as we go forward.
So I've asked Mark Byford to make journalism the centrepiece of his
role as Deputy Director-General.
Mark is not just a brilliant manager. He's also one of the best journalists
I've worked with and his values and his understanding of what the 大象传媒
stands for are rock solid.
Richard Sambrook, the Director of 大象传媒 News, will report
to Mark.
So too will Pat
Loughrey, Director of Nations and Regions, where so much of the
大象传媒's journalism across the UK takes place.
Nations and Regions of course involves many editorial matters beyond
journalism - from network TV drama to pan-大象传媒 music policy - and we'll
ensure they're fully plugged into the right forums and decision-making
processes for those areas as well.
But the main management and financial reporting line will be to Mark.
There will be a new post of Director, World Service and Global News,
responsible for all our international news services across radio, television
and online, who will also report to Mark.
So too, as now, will Stephen Whittle, the Controller of Editorial Policy.
This group will form a new Journalism Board, which Mark
will chair.
The Board will invite the Directors of TV, Radio, New Media, and Factual
and Learning to join it whenever necessary.
I will look to this Board to set and monitor editorial policy for journalism
in every part of the 大象传媒 both within and beyond the news divisions,
to drive the implementation of the recommendations of the Neil report,
and to manage the output, talent and resources of all our news and current
affairs programmes and services to deliver the most credible, the most
impartial, the most engaging reporting in the world.
I want, not just the Board, but all of our journalists and editors to
work together to create a culture which combines the highest and most
uncompromising standards with a real spirit of journalistic enterprise
and independence.
The final reason for creating a Journalism Board goes back to one of
Greg's great themes.
We want a group of journalists at the 大象传媒 who collaborate and learn
from each other more than they do at present.
Here as elsewhere we still want to create One 大象传媒 and the upcoming One
大象传媒 Awards reaffirm our commitment to this.
Mark's duties as Deputy Director-General won't begin
and end with journalism, of course.
Apart from anything else, he will be my deputy - when I'm away, he will
take over the responsibilities of Director-General for looking after
the whole 大象传媒.
Commercial activities: a
new structure and a review
But the Journalism Board is only one part of a larger
plan to make the structure of the 大象传媒 simpler, more decisive, more able
to adapt and change.
Let's turn next to the 大象传媒's commercial and financial operations.
We find some of the same themes again.
Big achievements in recent years - real efficiency gains across Finance
and Property through imaginative deals and new ways of working, expansion
and success for 大象传媒 Worldwide in many fields, and real progress too
with the business units (Resources, Technology, 大象传媒 Broadcast) which
make up Ventures.
When I look at this part of the 大象传媒 today, coming back with fresh eyes,
what I see most of all is economic and creative potential.
But I also see the need for greater strategic clarity. Also the urgent
need to cut through some of the complexity.
I think it's been hard in an Executive Committee of 16 or 17 people
and with a vast agenda for these businesses to get the time and the
focus they need.
I have therefore asked John
Smith to take on the new role of Chief Operating Officer, or COO,
of the 大象传媒, reporting to me and taking charge of all of the 大象传媒's commercial
and resourcing subsidiaries as well as continuing to head up the 大象传媒's
Finance, Property and Business Affairs departments.
People who have worked with John will know what an effective catalyst
for change he's been, as well as a commanding and resourceful Director
of Finance.
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The Commercial Board, which John will chair, will bring
together Rupert
Gavin, as Chief Executive of Worldwide and the heads of the individual
businesses in Ventures, and will be an effective forum both for setting
future strategy and for driving current performance.
I've also asked John to lead a review of all the 大象传媒's
commercial activities.
This review will also involve people from throughout the 大象传媒 as well
as external stakeholders and it will address all the big questions.
What commercial activities should the 大象传媒 undertake given its long-term
strategy?
What should it do itself and what with partners?
Where should it own-and-operate activities and where should it look
outside, whether for a particular service or for a partner to exploit
the value in a particular right?
大象传媒 Worldwide and 大象传媒 Ventures are both full of talent and they've already
built enormous value for the public: how can they build more?
That test, by the way, the test of public value, is going to be key
to us going forward.
It's a thread that runs all the way through our thinking about the next
Charter.
It will be the test we apply to all the questions we face going forward
- not just questions about the 大象传媒's services, but also about its shape
and structure.
John and I will present the conclusions to the Governors by year's end.
A new Creative Board
I now want to turn to another, absolutely critical part of what the
大象传媒 does - its creative offering to the public.
Without great programmes, great content, we're nothing.
Yet the key creative questions can seem like a bit of an afterthought
at the top of the 大象传媒, crowded out by all the debates about money, technology,
broad strategy.
In Greg's 大象传媒, collaboration between TV, radio and New Media definitely
got better, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.
So I'm going to chair a new Creative Board which will
pull together the heads of all the divisions which drive our creative
work: Alan
Yentob for DEC [Drama, Entertainment & C大象传媒], John
Willis for F&L [Factual and Learning], Peter
Salmon for Sport, Mark Byford as our overall leader of journalism
as well as the Directors of TV, Radio, New Media, Nations and Regions
of course, Marketing, Communications and Audiences and the news divisions
whenever appropriate.
This is the forum where we will discuss and decide upon the future direction
of our programmes and services, look at ways in which our programme-makers
and commissioners can work together to take advantage of new ways of
reaching audiences - say, with broadband or high quality mobile video
- and ways in which we can drive forward with all the issues relating
to programme and content production and the incredible wealth of in-house
talent inside the 大象传媒.
On matters of creative strategy and performance, the Creative Board
will report directly to the Board of Governors.
I've also asked Alan Yentob to take on the new role
of Creative Director for the whole 大象传媒, in addition to continuing to
lead DEC.
I want Alan to take a creative overview which spans the different divisions
and services of the 大象传媒 and to become our key link with the creative
community outside the 大象传媒.
No one understands how to get more out of the creative heart of the
大象传媒 than Alan, nor can speak with more eloquence about it.
Alan will play a vital role in making the 大象传媒's case for Charter Renewal.
The future of the 大象传媒's production base is something
else we want to review over the coming months.
There is so much talent and so much potential in our production divisions,
but again some important questions as well.
I'm one of those who was always worried about the decision originally
made in 1996 and confirmed by Greg in 2000 to split production completely
away from commissioning and broadcasting.
There was a powerful case in favour of it - above all the wish, which
I entirely support, to offer a level playing-field to the indies - but
to me the best work comes from the closest possible creative dialogue
and I'm not sure the current set-up always helps that.
I think there have been occasions when commissioners and controllers
have had a closer dialogue with some key indies than they have with
some in-house departments.
But, as I've said, there are strong arguments on both sides.
The right thing to do is to explore the question thoroughly and, in
the spirit of Making It Happen, to listen to and learn from the people
on the front line in F&L, DEC, Sport, TV and so on before reaching
a conclusion.
We also need to look at the balance of in-house and
indie programme supply.
In many ways, in-house production is the creative power-house of the
大象传媒 and the root of much of its creative heritage, and there are plenty
of practical reasons why it can make good sense, not just for the 大象传媒,
but for our audiences: security of supply and of quality; critical mass
and economies of scale; the chance to develop content ideas across platforms
and territories.
Most of what I know about programmes and broadcasting I learned inside
大象传媒 Production and, like many of you, it runs in my blood.
I'm certain extensive in-house production will be a critical part of
the 大象传媒's future.
But again we should apply the test of public value.
How does the licence payer benefit from a particular programme being
supplied from within the 大象传媒 as opposed to from an indie?
How do we make sure that in every area and for every service that the
licence fee really does find access to the best ideas?
I've asked Carolyn Fairbairn to head up this Commissioning
and Production Review.
She will involve all the key Directors in her work as well as ensuring
that everyone in these vital parts of the 大象传媒 gets a full opportunity
to take part in the debate and suggest the right way forward.
I've also asked Carolyn to make sure that the review turns outside the
大象传媒 and talks to our external partners as well: the indies, yes, and
also representatives of the freelance sector and all the different groups
of talent on which our creative success depends.
We will present the conclusions of the review to the Governors, this
time in the Autumn.
Regional Strategy
At the same time, we're also going to get to the bottom
of the 大象传媒's regional strategy.
In recent years our Nations and Regions have been a hive of activity.
Devolution, new investment in the nations, more network production there
than ever before, new regions in England, online, Hull, Open Centres,
the multimedia buses.
The 大象传媒 is an active, energetic broadcaster and partner all over the
UK.
As I guess all of you know, before he left, Greg was
determined to go to the next stage, by finding a way of shifting a further
significant part of the 大象传媒's operations out of London and into the
rest of the UK.
I believe this is the right strategy and I'm fully committed to it as
well.
I want to make sure, though, that we've listened to everyone and weighed
the costs and the creative implications carefully before we settle on
a plan.
I've asked Peter Salmon and Pat Loughrey to go on leading this work
and report back with recommendations as soon as possible.
Managing Charter Renewal
Let me turn next to how we're going to organise our efforts to make
the case for a new Charter for the 大象传媒.
Caroline
Thomson has been leading the work so far and, in my view, has done
a brilliant job in what have been challenging circumstances to say the
least.
Now we have to go into top gear.
There's a new leadership team in place.
We're publishing our vision of the 大象传媒's future just seven days from
now.
From that moment on, we have to be out there, making the argument, bringing
passion and clarity and confidence to every forum in which the Charter
is under discussion.
This is priority number one for the 大象传媒: everything we do now, everything
we could do in the future, depends on success in this.
I have therefore asked Caroline to become Director of
Charter Renewal and to focus on this one challenge.
She will continue to run her department as now but will also lead a
Charter Renewal Task Force which can draw on the talent and resource
of the whole organisation.
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She and I will meet every week to assess progress.
Caroline will also report to Michael Grade, the Chairman of the 大象传媒.
Her role will sit across the 大象传媒 as a whole, she will attend management
meetings as appropriate and all Board of Governors meetings.
She will ensure that the Governors have maximum support as they make
their case for a strong, independent 大象传媒.
A new Executive Board
Let me turn finally to the central management and leadership
of the 大象传媒.
I admired the flatness and breadth of the Executive
Committee which Greg created, but I - and I have to say most other
people I've talked to inside the 大象传媒 - believe that it was a bit too
big and amorphous to be really effective.
It was often a good place to debate the issues, but actual decisions
were seldom taken there.
It didn't play an effective role in the Hutton saga, even though there
was a lot of experience around the table.
With our Journalism, Commercial and Creative Boards
in place - replacing, by the way, all the sub-committees of the old
Executive Committee - and with Caroline's Charter Renewal Task Force,
I believe we can go for a much smaller and more effective core leadership
group.
I have therefore decided to replace the Executive Committee
with a new Executive Board with a total of nine members including me.
The membership will be: myself as DG, Mark as Deputy Director-General,
John as Chief Operating Officer, plus the leaders of our major output
divisions, Jana
Bennett for Television, Jenny
Abramsky for Radio, Ashley
Highfield for New Media.
Carolyn Fairbairn will sit on the board as Director of Strategy and
Distribution.
Andy
Duncan will be there as Director of Marketing, Communications and
Audiences, and Carolyn and Andy will carry on jointly leading the critical
work on digital switchover, work which, by the way, is going to get
a lot more intense as we go forward.
Stephen
Dando, Director of 大象传媒 People, will also be a critical member of
the team.
All of our challenges going forward have a major staff and talent dimension
and Stephen will be there to lead on all those issues, working with
me as the Making it Happen sponsor to take Making It Happen on to the
next stage and striving for further improvements to our internal culture
and communications.
I believe that leading the 大象传媒 should be a team effort,
not a one-man band.
I may pretend to sometimes, but I don't have all the answers. I want
to learn from all of you.
Specifically, I want the new Executive Board to be a real decision-making
body with a very strong sense of collective responsibility and accountability.
The new structure remains very flat.
It also emphasises the One 大象传媒 idea of discussing and doing things together.
But I believe it's also going to move fast and, where necessary, be
more up for radical action.
Conclusion
In summary then: the 大象传媒 has had a traumatic few months.
We've got a real fight on our hands in Charter Renewal - we have a very
strong case, but you can be sure that the 大象传媒's critics will also be
out there in force.
Meanwhile, as we've seen, we face a much tougher financial environment
going forward - and some testing questions about our size and shape
as an organisation.
I still think this is a fantastic time to be coming
back to the 大象传媒.
Since before the Second World War, the 大象传媒's been a multimedia organisation
and now at last the real age of multimedia is here.
Only the 大象传媒 and its licence fee can make sure that the digital future
is still full of great British content.
Only the 大象传媒 can assemble this amount of talent under one roof, where
they can meet, collaborate, spark ideas off each other.
To me, the 大象传媒's a kind of Noah's ark in a digital world which otherwise
might have too little space for creativity and conviction.
One of the games the press play is to judge everything
by reference to the last two DGs.
Is so and so a Birtist or a Dykist?
That Neil report - is it a move back to Birtism?
Or does the continuation of Make It Happen mean that Greg's style is
here to stay?
Well, if you ask me, I'd say that both my two predecessors were brilliant
leaders of this organisation and both, in their very different ways,
taught me, and I think many of you, an enormous amount.
They got the 大象传媒 successfully to this point.
Now, with the guidance and support of Michael and the rest of the Governors,
you and I have to find our own way of taking the 大象传媒 on to the next
stage.
One thing that John and Greg had in common is that they
both put their hearts and souls into this place.
That's what most people do - it's what the 大象传媒 does to you.
And it's exactly what I intend to do.
I know I've got to hit the ground running.
Tomorrow you get the Neil Report, next week the big vision.
But in the meantime it's great to be back.
I'm really looking forward to working with you all again.
Thank you.
听
