Mark Thompson

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Mark Thompson (born July 31, 1957) is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4.

[edit] Early life

Born in Stepney and brought up in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, by his Irish Catholic mother^{[citation needed]}, Sydney Corduff, and father, John Thompson, from Preston (who died when Thompson was 12). He was educated by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, one of England's leading Catholic public schools, and from there went up to Merton College, Oxford, where he took a first in English. He edited the university magazine Isis.

[edit] Appointment as Director-General

Thompson was appointed Director-General on May 21, 2004^[1]. He succeeded Greg Dyke, who resigned on January 29 2004 in the aftermath of the Hutton Inquiry. Although he had originally stated he was not interested in the role of Director-General and would turn down any approach from the BBC, he changed his mind, saying the job was a "one-of-a-kind opportunity". The decision to appoint Thompson Director-General was made unanimously by the BBC Board of Governors, headed by the then new Chairman Michael Grade (another former chief executive of Channel 4). His appointment was widely praised: Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Shadow Culture Secretary Julie Kirkbride and Greg Dyke were amongst those who supported his selection. He took up the role of Director-General on June 22 2004^[1] (Mark Byford had been Acting Director-General since Dyke's resignation). On his first day he announced several management changes, including the replacement of the BBC's sixteen-person executive committee with a slimmed-down executive board of nine top managers. His salary for the year 2004/2005 (as disclosed by the BBC) was £453,000, not including a bonus which he waived for this period.

[edit] Editorial guideline breaches

In 2007 it emerged that the BBC had been involved in a number of editorial guideline breaches. Mark Thompson, as BBC editor-in-chief investigated these breaches, and presented his interim report to the BBC Trust on 18 July 2007^[2]. The Trust felt that the BBC’s values of accuracy and honesty had been compromised, and Thompson outlined to the Trust the actions he would take to restore confidence.

Later that day he told BBC staff, via an internal televised message^[3], that deception of the public was never acceptable. He said that he, himself, had never deceived the public - it would never have occurred to him to do so, and that he was sure that the same applied to the "overwhelming majority" of BBC staff. He also spoke on BBC News 24^[4] and was interviewed by Gavin Esler for Newsnight. He stated that "from now on, if it [deceiving the public] happens we will show people the door."^[5] Staff were emailed on 19 July 2007^[6] and later in the year all staff, including the Director-General undertook an honesty training course^[7].

[edit] Controversy

In late 2007, Thompson's directorship at the BBC was criticised. Sir Richard Eyre, former artistic director of the National Theatre, accused the BBC under Thompson's leadership of failing to produce programmes 'that inspired viewers to visit galleries, museums or theatres'.^[8] He was also criticised by Tony Palmer, a multi-award winning film-maker. Of the BBC, Palmer stated that '[it] has a worldwide reputation which it has abrogated and that's shameful. In the end, the buck stops with Mark Thompson. He is a catastrophe.'^[9] It should be noted that Palmer at the same time praised other BBC departments.

He was severely criticised in relation to the broadcast of Jerry Springer: The Opera, with a private prosecution brought against the BBC for blasphemy. David Pannick QC appeared and won the case for BBC director-general Mark Thompson. The High Court ruled that the cult musical was not blasphemous, and Pannick stated that: "Judge Tubbs had acted within her powers and made the only decision she could lawfully have made; while religious beliefs were integral to British society, so is freedom of expression, especially to matters of social and moral importance."^[10]

[edit] Broadcasting career

He first joined the BBC as a production trainee in 1979. His subsequent career within the organisation has been varied, including:

• 1981 - assisted launching long-running consumer programme Watchdog
• 1983 - assisted launching Breakfast Time
• 1985 - Output Editor, Newsnight
• 1988 - Editor, Nine O'Clock News (at the age of 30)
• 1990 - Editor, Panorama
• 1992 - Head of Features
• 1994 - Head of Factual Programmes
• 1996 - Controller, BBC Two
• 1999 - Director, National and Regional Broadcasting

In April 2000 he became BBC director of television, but left the corporation in March 2002 to become chief executive of Channel 4.

[edit] Personal life

He now lives in Oxford with his Jewish American wife Jane Blumberg whom he married in 1987, who has written books on Mary Shelley. They have two sons (born October 1991 and December 1997) and one daughter (born January 1994). He worships at the St Aloysius Gonzaga church on Woodstock Road in Oxford. He is a patron of the Art Room charity in Oxford.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

BBC Portal

• How the BBC is run: Mark Thompson (BBC)
• Channel 4 boss lands BBC top job (BBC)
• New BBC boss announces shake-up (BBC)
• BBC Technology sold (BBC)
• Thompson "to transform BBC" (BBC)
• Will Thompson be toast over the day he bit a BBC colleague? (Guardian)
• BBC boss sank teeth into his newsroom colleague (Telegraph)
• Biting comment over job cuts at the BBC (Times)
• BBC job cuts parody (Deadbrain)
• Thompson welcomes strike suspension (BBC)
• BBC Resources sell-off delayed (Press Gazette)
• Thompson sells BBC Broadcast - which becomes Red Bee Media (BBC)
• Thompson flogs Books - to Random House (BBC)
• BBC changes mark a digital future (BBC)
• Creative Future and Looney Tunes (Guardian)
• Mark Thompson's blog (BBC)