After Tim Davie’s resignation, the next director general will face internal strife, external noise and looming talks over the corporation’s existence and purpose
As BBC senior editors arrived at its New Broadcasting House headquarters in central London on Monday, the most pressing question was what had convinced Tim Davie, the corporation’s director general, to quit suddenly. Like any good BBC drama, it was a plot twist no one had seen coming.
As they assessed the brutal pressures that had finally proved too much for Davie, a second question soon arose. Was running the BBC now simply an impossible job?
“That’s the conversation going round this newsroom,” said a BBC insider. “That’s one of the sad things; the relentless nature of these roles. They are big jobs but … god.”
Davie had been through a series of rows since the start of the year, from the social media posts of its former star sports presenter Gary Lineker to several issues relating to Israel and Gaza coverage. As recently as last week, however, he had seemed to be thinking about the future as he engaged in a staff debate about the impact of AI.
