Dimbleby slams BBC's compliance culture

Veteran broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has criticised the BBC's "extremely damaging" culture of compliance.

Last year, Dimbleby claimed that the BBC Trust's decision to uphold complaints against the corporation's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen had the potential to "cause serious damage" to its global reputation.

The Any Questions presenter, who is currently appearing on BBC Two in An African Journey With Jonathan Dimbleby, said that a "greater culture of compliance" has been introduced at the corporation in the wake of the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand scandal.

Speaking to The Guardian, Dimbleby expressed his belief that the BBC's system of governance must now be re-thought.

"Everyone is in the same boat. To me it is peculiar that I do a live radio programme every week but six months ago the BBC decided I have to have the live trail on Friday's Today programme cleared because it is prepared in advance," he said.

"But I can give this interview and say what I like. It seems a consequence of the Brand/Ross scandal but one wonders whether it was intentional or a result of drift. It risks creating a climate of caution. People are in danger of not thinking for themselves.

"The safety-first culture inhibits personal response or judgment. People think something will be referred and they wonder how it will be interpreted if it goes to the very top, to the Trust. The risk of that is an infantilisation of very serious, very talented people. I wonder whether such a detailed process of compliance is a useful way of spending time."

Dimbleby said that part of the problem is the BBC's current relationship with its regulatory body the Trust, which must be simplified to be truly effective.

"The management is in a client relationship with the Trust but I don't think it is panic stations at the BBC yet," he added.

"The management is very good but I think management is often put in an uncomfortable position, and there must be a simplification - the clarification of the relationship between broadcaster and regulator may be a healthier way forward."