Greg Dyke - "The BBC should be the most creative organisation
in the world"
BBC
Director-General Greg Dyke today laid out a new vision for the BBC
- to be the most creative organisation in the world.
In
an annual address to BBC staff across the UK, two years after becoming
Director-General, Mr Dyke said this could be achieved by understanding
audiences better and reaching people the BBC is currently underserving.
It could also be achieved by changing attitudes and the way people
worked within the BBC to unlock more creativity and ideas, he said.
Mr
Dyke outlined the purpose of the BBC in the digital era by arguing
that the BBC will have three distinct roles in the 21st century
- local, national and international - and would become more, not
less, important due to market changes.
He
said efforts to save money and invest more in to programmes were
having a tangible impact and the aim to reduce the amount of BBC
income spent on overheads to 15% would be achieved next year, 12
months ahead of target.
"Having
saved the money and changed the structures it’s time to concentrate
on audiences, creativity and making this a really great place to
work," he told thousands of staff listening around the country.
Amongst the things those savings are paying for are the two new
children’s channels - launching on February 11 - a new twice-weekly
drama for Scotland and new interactive services.
Launching
a major initiative to drive internal change, One BBC - Making it
Happen, Mr Dyke said: "In the next couple of years we have
an enormous opportunity to really change the BBC. The collapse in
the advertising industry is having a profound effect.
"All
of this gives us an opportunity, but it also puts a great responsibility
on the BBC to deliver. Because we are publicly funded we have to
up our game and produce even better programmes and services for
all our audiences," said Mr Dyke, refuting claims of dumbing
down.
Mr
Dyke said the aim of the BBC in the 1990s was to be the best managed
organisation in the public sector. "Let me offer you a new
vision," he told staff. "We want to be the most creative
organisation in the world. And I don’t just mean in the production
and programme areas, I mean right across the BBC.
"The
first task is to understand audiences better and reach those we’re
not appealing to. We need to ensure we are not only meeting their
hopes and expectations, but that we are exceeding them.
"The
second task is to make sure that we’re the most innovative
and risk taking place there is - and that will mean giving people
the right to fail, encouraging new ideas in every part of the BBC
and really changing some of the ways we work."
Outlining
the BBC’s purpose in the digital era, he said: "The role
of the BBC will be more important in a decade’s time, not less,
because, as a result of market fragmentation, the commercial market
will not be able to afford to provide some of the services it has
historically produced. More will be required of the BBC, not less.
"I
believe that the BBC will have three distinct roles in the 21st
century. The first is an international role and, post September
11, the role of the BBC around the world becomes not less, but more,
important."
He
said that internationally, the BBC could bring credit back to Britain
as the services were based on BBC values – independence, openness,
fairness and a range of opinion – "which reflect Britain
at its best".
"Our
second role in 21st century Britain is a national role. The BBC
is part of the glue which binds the United Kingdom together. This
role of uniting the nation becomes more not less important in a
fragmenting media world. Remember 35 million people in the UK turned
to the BBC’s radio and television news services on September
11. It is also why it is so important that our services are universally
available.
"Finally,
I believe the BBC will have an increasingly important community
role. In television, the ITV system was historically the regional
system and the BBC the national system. That will gradually be reversed
as the ITV system comes under greater financial pressure. In terms
of regional television news viewing, we are now ahead virtually
everywhere, something that was unthinkable even five years ago.
"In
the past 18 months our local radio stations have shown their value
when reporting the fuel crisis in the autumn of 2000, followed by
the floods of that winter and then by the foot and mouth crisis
last spring."
Mr
Dyke said the BBC is currently investing heavily in a major project
in Hull, to see what broadband Britain could look like, and in locally-based
information web sites. "It is something we are able to do only
because we are publicly funded. The market wouldn’t pay for
this."
The
Making it Happen teams will be led by acclaimed programme maker
Susan Spindler, one of the creators of Walking with Dinosaurs and
The Human Body.
Notes
to Editors
Transcript
of address to staff is available here.
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