LONDON – Richard Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker and adviser to the British government, is expected to be named the next chairman of the BBC to lead the public broadcaster through a critical period, given its purpose, funding and sustainability of which is reviewed.
Mr. Sharp will come at the helm of the broadcaster amid long-running complaints from the ruling Conservative party about the coverage and the mandatory license fees households are paying to finance it. The BBC reported on the appointment of Mr. Sharp after an initial report by Sky News. An official announcement is expected in the coming days.
The future of the annual license fee paid by listeners and viewers (£ 157.50 or about $ 214) will be one of the most urgent matters of Mr. Be sharp as he negotiates with the government on the size of the fee from 2022 to 2027.
He did not take public oversight of the fee or how to ensure the broadcaster’s financial viability as more viewers turn to streaming services. But his connections with the party can help ease the negotiation process. Mr. According to public records, Sharp (64) donated more than £ 400,000 ($ 542,000) to the Conservative Party between 2001 and 2010.
“The role of the chairperson is to be at a certain level mainly a conversation partner when there are problems with the government,” said Claire Enders, founder of the London media research firm Enders Analysis. ” A chairman who is not politically plugged in is not a chair that can ultimately be so supportive and helpful to the BBC. ‘
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose government named Mr. Sharp has questioned the justification for the license fee, which contributed £ 3.7 billion to the BBC in 2019, accounting for about three-quarters of its revenue. Mr. Johnson has made himself one of the biggest critics of the broadcaster after winning the last election at the end of 2019. He refused to sit for a few interviews and allegedly barred his ministers from appearing in other programs for some time.
Early last year, the Conservative government put forward a proposal to decriminalize the non-payment of license fees, a move that was lifted during the search for new leadership at the BBC, while the terms of its two chiefs came to an end.
In September, a new director general was installed: Tim Davie, a former candidate for the Conservative local council who has been with the broadcaster since 2005.
The government’s criticism of the BBC has come to a standstill in recent months. For many, the appointment of Mr. Sharp is seen as a relief compared to another candidate for the post: Charles Moore, a former editor of the conservative newspaper The Daily Telegraph and a staunch critic of the BBC, who ended up in court a decade ago has about his refusal to pay the license fee. Mr. Moore apparently pulled himself out of the run.
Mr. Sharp takes over from David Clementi, whose four-year term ends next month. Many older Britons will see Mr. Clementi recalls as the chairman, who last summer terminated free TV licenses for most over 75s. He argued that it is necessary to ask older viewers to catch up on the lost money without reducing more programs and services.
As it is, the organization cut work as part of a 2016 plan to save £ 800 million. Last year, he announced 520 job losses at BBC News, and another 600 job cuts from local services in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Mr. Sharp and Mr. Davie will play critical roles as the BBC Charter, setting out its mission and public purpose, will come in the next few years for an interim review and a full renewal in 2027.
Sharp, who spent more than two decades at Goldman Sachs until 2007 and was a member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee from 2013 to 2019, reportedly hired one of his former Goldman employees, Rishi Sunak, as chancellor of the Treasury.
According to Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the BBC faces three key challenges: how to reach a younger audience and promote its future commercial success; how to allay concerns that it is not diverse, both politically and ethnically; and, a particular task for the chairperson, how to ensure its future independence.
‘The BBC is and remains a political creation, and a prerequisite for its existence is that the BBC succeeds in convincing not only the public but also politicians that it is in fact fulfilling its role and task, and that it is his independence, “said Mr. Nielsen said.