They are not amused
Fincham's fate in Thompson's hands
The Queen famously once had an "annus horribilis", and it now seems that 2007 is turning into much the same for the BBC. Just a few days after Ofcom fined the BBC for the very first time, a huge row has erupted over how the Queen was portrayed in a BBC One autumn programme promo shown to journalists (and apparently appeared at least once on News 24 as well).
This event will have two possible outcomes depending on what happened in the making of that particular promo. If RDF had given the BBC a clip showing the Queen apparently walking out "in a huff" and it was used unaltered, then the BBC (and Peter Fincham) would have some form of defence for using the clip "as is" since it "must have been checked previously" by RDF.
However it has to be said that the BBC are normally meticulous in relation to the use of programme clips in promotions, so the defence for using a clip unaltered would exist but is still a bit shaky. But if the clip was given to them in the same form as used in the promo, does that mean that the clip of the Queen appears in exactly the same form within the programme itself?
The second scenario, namely that programme material was given to the BBC by RDF which was then re-edited by BBC staff to make it appear that the Queen walked out in a huff, is an even more serious allegation and is a position for which BBC One controller Peter Fincham would find very hard to defend for both the staff involved and his own role as controller.
If Peter Fincham was to step down as a result, then inevitably the spotlight will shift towards Mark Thompson and his track record in managing BBC staff. There has been a huge amount of change within the BBC over the last three years with a significant headcount reduction and various reorganisations, but upper management has remained relatively unaltered.
It has been said that the recent cutbacks may have left the BBC more vulnerable to charges of incompetence because there are now fewer senior editors overseeing junior staff in their everyday jobs, and increasing workload combined with performance pressures could theoretically lead to catastrophic mistakes being made and uncorrected.
What could potentially be highly damaging for the independent production sector is the possibility of Peter Fincham resigning even if RDF had presented the Queen clip to the BBC and it had been used in the promo unaltered, since this would essentially mean that broadcasters could find it much more difficult to rely on indies like RDF to produce serious factual programming.
And of course if the edited Queen sequence had been used in the actual programme then this would reflect even more badly on the programme producer and severely tarnish the reputation of RDF (one of the largest UK independent producers) as a result.
By the end of next week we should know the outcome of this latest scandal to affect the BBC, but regardless of the outcome it's yet another incident that could eventually undermine the credibility and position of Mark Thompson; he must be feeling very uneasy at this point even if Peter Fincham ends up being the scapegoat.
