Latest news with #TimDavie
The Sun
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Wynne Evans slams BBC again over ‘double standards' after Naga Munchetty is hauled in over sex jibe
WYNNE Evans has lashed out at the BBC again over its "double standards". The axed radio star commented on The Sun revealing BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty was hauled in over a sex jibe at Radio 5 Live. 2 Wynne shared today's front page of the newspaper detailing the programme's toxicity row, amid claims Naga was reprimanded by bosses over two incidents in three years — including allegations she bullied a junior staffer. Posting The Sun front page in a now-deleted post, Wynne said: "I really wish Naga well and I hope she doesn't get hounded. "But come on @bbc @bbccymruwales what double standards. "Tim Davie [Director-general of the BBC] promised to protect people on Strictly from being hounded by the press, but he won't even meet with me." Wynne recently sat down with The Sun's Clemmie Moodie to reveal his side of the story after losing his job following three allegations levelled against him. He accused the BBC of abandoning him in the wake of a series of controversies that erupted during and after his time on Strictly Come Dancing. The corporation said he was offered a dedicated contact at the BBC and was offered "continued" mental health support since his contract concluded. Director General Tim Davie issued an unprecedented apology, and vowed to clean the show up, after a formal complaint from actress Amanda Abbington into Giovanni Pernice's behaviour. A raft of ex-contestants then came forward with their own horror stories. Another dancer, Graziano Di Prima was then fired after a video emerged of him kicking his partner Zara McDermott. Naga is the first female presenter to be caught up in the series of scandals which have gripped the Beeb. She was reprimanded by a senior producer over the sex jibe, but no formal action was taken. As the BBC is now facing questions of double standards, an insider said: 'If a male presenter made a sexual comment like that or falsely accused someone of theft, he'd be out the door. But with Naga, it gets brushed off.' A BBC spokesperson said: 'While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously.'
Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
BBC axes new Gaza film
The BBC has pulled a Gaza documentary after its producer took aim at director-general Tim Davie. The broadcaster was forced to apologise in February after being accused of airing a 'propaganda' film, which contained contributions from the son of a leading Hamas minister. BBC bosses have now dropped another planned Gaza film. The decision came after the head of Basement Films, the film's production company, branded Mr Davie a 'PR person' who could not be trusted to make editorial decisions. The BBC had initially delayed the release of the film, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, while it conducted a review into the disastrous release of its previous Gaza documentary. Ben de Pear, the Basement Films boss, claimed that this delay was decided from a 'PR defensive point of view, rather than a journalistic one', and that the BBC 'stymied' journalists. He had been speaking at the Sheffield DocFest on Thursday. The BBC's decision also came after Ramita Navai, the documentary's director, also made comments on the Today programme. She said during the segment that 'Israel has become a rogue state that's committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing and mass-murdering Palestinians '. It is understood that this partisan view from the filmmaker may have compromised the documentary being presented as an impartial production. A statement from the BBC released on Friday said: 'For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms. 'Yesterday [Thursday], it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions.' The BBC added that 'broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC'. The release of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack had been paused following outrage over the BBC's decision to air the previous film, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, a documentary created by production company Hoyo. The broadcaster removed the film from iPlayer after days of criticism over its featuring of children linked to Hamas. The BBC also issued an apology after it was revealed that a major contributor to the programme was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, a Hamas minister. This link was not disclosed to viewers. The BBC said it was not aware of the Hamas link, while Hoyo later claimed the BBC was aware. The BBC faced pressure to release the delayed documentary about doctors in Gaza, and Mr Davie was urged to air the film in an open letter signed by 600 signatories, including Harriet Walter, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson. They claimed the delay was ' political suppression '. It is understood that no such concerns have been raised about Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, and the BBC said: 'We want to thank the doctors and contributors, and we are sorry we could not tell their stories. The BBC will continue to cover events in Gaza impartially.' The rights to the film will now revert back to Basement Films, which will be free to screen the feature.
The Guardian
17 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
BBC threatens legal action against AI startup over content scraping
The BBC is threatening legal action against Perplexity AI, in the corporation's first move to protect its content from being scraped without permission to build artificial intelligence technology. The corporation has sent a letter to Aravind Srinivas, the chief executive of the San Francisco-based startup, saying it has gathered evidence that Perplexity's model was 'trained using BBC content'. The letter, first seen by the Financial Times, threatens an injunction against Perplexity unless it stops scraping all BBC content to train its AI models, and deletes any copies of the broadcaster's material it holds unless it provides 'a proposal for financial compensation'. The legal threat comes weeks after Tim Davie, the director general of the BBC, and the boss of Sky both criticised proposals being considered by the government that could let tech companies use copyright-protected work without permission. 'If we currently drift in the way we are doing now we will be in crisis,' Davie said, speaking at the Enders conference. 'We need to make quick decisions now around areas like … protection of IP. We need to protect our national intellectual property, that is where the value is. What do I need? IP protection; come on, let's get on with it.' The industry would like an opt-in regime, forcing AI companies to seek permission and strike licensing deals with copyright holders before they can use the content to train their models. In October, Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, accusing it of engaging in a 'massive amount of illegal copying' in a 'brazen scheme … free-riding on the valuable content the publishers produce'. Perplexity told the FT that the BBC's claims were 'manipulative and opportunistic' and that it had a 'fundamental misunderstanding of technology, the internet and intellectual property law'. Perplexity does not build or train foundation models – unlike other companies such as OpenAI, Google and Meta – but provides an interface that allows users to choose between them. The BBC said that parts of its content had been reproduced verbatim by Perplexity. 'Perplexity's tool directly competes with the BBC's own services, circumventing the need for users to access those services,' the corporation said. In October the BBC began registering copyright in its news website in the US, so it is entitled to 'statutory damages in relation to unauthorised use of these copyright works'. In the UK, original proposals published in a consultation indicated that the government could let AI companies scrape content unless media owners opt out, which the industry said would 'scrape the value' out of the £125bn creative industry. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has since said that the government has no preferred option regarding AI copyright laws in the UK but promised the creative sector that it would not be harmed by legislation. 'We are a Labour government, and the principle [that] people must be paid for their work is foundational,' she told a media conference earlier this month. 'You have our word that if it doesn't work for the creative industries, it will not work for us.' Publishers including the Financial Times, Axel Springer, Hearst and News Corporation have signed content licensing deals with OpenAI. Reuters has struck a deal with Meta, and the parent of the Daily Mail has an agreement with The Guardian has approached Perplexity for comment.
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- Business
- Glasgow Times
More than 50 jobs cut at BBC Scotland under spending squeeze
Dozens of editorial and production roles at BBC Scotland have gone as part of a drive to make £700m worth of savings a year across the UK. It is thought almost 4% of BBC Scotland's staff have left in the wake of the seven-month redundancy programme. The cuts have emerged following controversies over the BBC's plans to drop long-running soap opera River City and the cancellation of The Nine, the flagship news programme created for the BBC Scotland channel. Our sister title, The Herald, revealed last week that BBC Scotland was scaling back its coverage of Edinburgh's festivals, including dropping its annual pop-up venue, which played host to many of the biggest stars performing in the city in August. BBC Scotland is based at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. (Image: Getty) Long-time presenter Shereen Nanjiani announced at the weekend that she was stepping down from her Saturday morning show after almost 17 years at the BBC. The BBC promised that 80 new jobs would be created when the new £32 million channel, which launched in February 2019, was first announced more than eight years ago. River City is expected to be screened for the last time in the autumn of 2026. (Image: Image: Archive) However the BBC has been forced to roll-out significant cuts across the UK since then, amid calls for a reform of the licence fee system. The BBC has said that below inflation rises or licence fee freezes have seen it lose out on more than £1 billion over the last decade. BBC Scotland had 1276 staff according to its most recent annual report, which was published before the start of the recent redundancy programme. Director-general Tim Davie announced in March 2024 that the BBC was having to increase its annual savings target by £200m to £700m a year by 2028, as he revealed that the broadcaster planned to explore ways to reform the licence fee, which is set by the UK Government, but had been frozen for the previous two years. At the time, Mr Davie highlighted how below inflationary settlements had 'chipped away' at the BBC's income for years, resulting in a 30 per cent cut between 2010 and 2020. Within months, the BBC had announced plans to cut 500 jobs across its UK services by March 2026 as part of plans to become a 'leaner, more agile organisation". The BBC told staff last September that it planned to cut around 115 editorial and production jobs in its 'nations and regions' teams in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The BBC said they were aiming to make savings 'without closing any major services' while focusing on 'areas that deliver maximum value for audiences". The broadcaster said: 'We have been clear that the significant funding pressures we face means that every division in the BBC needs to make savings.' Between 20 and 30 jobs had expected to go in Scotland under the redundancy programme, which was announced months after the BBC announced plans to drop The Nine, the hour-long news programme created for the launch of the BBC Scotland channel in 2019, and replace it with a new half-hour show running after the main Reporting Scotland programme. A shake-up in BBC Scotland's arts coverage has seen singer and broadcaster Michelle McManus fronting a new celebrity-focus two-hour radio programme, with poet Len Pennie presenting a half-show Scottish culture show, The Arts Mix. BBC Scotland's redundancy programme ran until March, when it sparked anger from actors, union leaders and politicians when they announced plans to bring River City to an end. The final instalments are due to be screened in the autumn of 2026 – around 24 years after its launch. The BBC, which spends around £300m in Scotland, around 90% of what is generated by the licence fee north of the border, has promised that River City's £9m annual budget will be reinvested in three new drama series which will be set in and around Glasgow. The BBC has pledged that it will be spending £95m in drama in Scotland between 2026 and 2028. Although more than 12,000 supporters have backed a petition calling for River City to be saved, BBC Scotland director Hayley Valentine last month told the Scottish Parliament that the show no longer provided 'value for money' after its audience 'declined significantly' over the last five years. The Herald revealed last week that BBC Scotland had decided to scale back its coverage of Edinburgh's festivals. It will not be running a pop-up venue for ticketed broadcasts and recordings for the first time 2010. Just five days of events with audiences will be staged under plans to share space with the Pleasance, one of the biggest Fringe venue operators, at the EICC and its long-running courtyard. According to the latest BBC annual report, around 57 per cent of adults in Scotland consume BBC Scotland content each week via TV and radio broadcasts, its iPlayer platform and the BBC website. A spokesperson for BBC Scotland said: 'The BBC operates within a fiercely competitive marketplace and has experienced, since 2010, a 30% cut in real terms to its budget. 'As a result, tough choices have to be made when it comes to commissioning content with decisions being driven by what provides best value for money. 'With regards to headcount, in the last 12 months alone, more than 50 BBC roles in Scotland have been closed via a redundancy programme. 'The redundancy programme has finished. It ran from September last year until the end of March, as part of a pan-BBC drive to make £700m of savings, which is set against a £1bn real-terms cut to the overall budget in the last 15 years. There isn't a recruitment freeze across BBC Scotland at the moment.'
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Kate Phillips appointed as BBC's Chief Content Officer
The BBC has appointed Kate Phillips as its new Chief Content Officer. Director-General Tim Davie confirmed the news to staff today (18 June), following a competitive recruitment process. Kate was appointed interim Chief Content Officer, after Charlotte Moore announced earlier this year that she was leaving the BBC to join Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television. Kate has spent 12 years at the BBC. Most recently, as Director of Unscripted, she has been responsible for many of the BBC's top performing shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, The Traitors and Gladiators. Kate was also the last Controller of BBC One, overseeing a huge slate of programmes across Drama, Comedy, Arts and Music, all of Factual, Current Affairs, Daytime, Sport and Entertainment. Prior to that she was Controller, Entertainment where she oversaw the entertainment strategy across BBC television and iPlayer, where she commissioned more than 500 hours of original programming a year. Her extensive TV career also includes Creative Director of Formats for BBC Worldwide, as well as a creator and producer of many shows for a variety of broadcasters. Announcing the news to staff, Director-General Tim Davie said: 'Kate's passion for delivering world-class content to our all audiences shines through in everything she does. 'Her experience with the BBC spans over 12 years and in that time she has brought innovation, outstanding creativity, and an absolute focus on our audiences. 'She has a fantastic record of delivering creative hits which embody the best of the BBC.' Kate said: 'Over the past few months, I have thoroughly enjoyed being more involved in the huge breadth of brilliant content that we produce across the UK and, of course, it's been great getting to know so many new people. 'This is one of the best roles in the business at an incredible organisation and I can't wait to get started.' BBC Press Office Follow for more
