Huw resigns

"Huw Edwards has today resigned and left the BBC. After 40 years of service, Huw has explained that his decision was made on the basis of medical advice from his doctors. The BBC has accepted his resignation which it believes will allow all parties to move forward. We don’t believe it appropriate to comment further."

The briefest of statements from the BBC Press Office, ending a stand-off between management and employee since Huw was suspended in July. The police have said there was no crime involved, but now we'll never know what the BBC investigation found, and whether they felt there was some potential for a disciplinary following suspension. 

Clearly Huw's doctors thought, innocent though he may be, there was no percentage in a more formal hearing. Indeed, the most elegant solution, at 62, is early retirement on medical grounds, with a healthy pension. 

Check it out

I wonder if BBC Verify will take on the 13 minutes of Gideon Falter in Holborn trying to get to Kingsway through a pro-Palestinian march. Perhaps they could indicate the careers of the two men in dark glasses, the video assistant and the personal assistant that were with him on this important journey. Presumably they will acknowledge that the police were ready to assist him safely to his destination, albeit via a circuitous route. 

Zeitgeist

Smart work by Louise Compton at C4 and Ian Rumsey at ITN in building a team for General Election night. They've aimed to capture the buzz of podcasts by hiring Emily Maitlis of The News Agents and both Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell of The Rest Is Politics. They'll join Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Cathy Newman, Gary Gibbon and Clare Balding. No sign of the BBC team yet. 

TikTok growth

Reaching out for hits on TikTok, BBC News' twelve most recent efforts include no less than three on the bloke who set himself on fire outside the Donald Trump court hearing; two on ketamine; two on the London marathon (one with product mention); and one on other people filming girls on nights out - which includes repeated shots of girls on nights out. 

Daily growth

The BBC is advertising for a Get More Clicks Journalist  a Senior Journalist, Weekend Growth. 

Responsibilities: Researching, compiling and sending daily growth team emails on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

Working with teams planning and commissioning content for weekend publication by providing audience insight, story ideas and pre-publication optimisation advice

Providing real-time insights and optimisation advice to editorial teams during weekend shifts

Analysing performance of content published at weekends and feeding this back to relevant teams to inform the next stages of BBC News’ weekend digital output development

May I suggest more work on the technique that surfaces oldies but goodies in the back catalogue of what I believe they call 'compelling content' ? The top three 'most-watched' stories on the BBC News website at 0900 this are all from November 2023.

Chew on this

Some key parts of the BBC's W1 operations will no longer be powered by the Sausage, Bean and Cheese Melt.  Greggs in Great Portland Street is closing its doors after nearly ten years. Already there is some gnashing of teeth, albeit not around the Vegan Sausage Roll. 

Greggs near Broadcasting House has passed away. RIP u will live on forever. Cant believe it. I wanna run to u. Really can’t believe this. @

— Hamzah Abbas (@HamzahAbbasBBC) April 19, 2024

More from fewer

GB News, which, unlike fellow struggler TalkTV, continues to seek a broadcasting future, is looking for 40 volunteers for redundancy.  Successful applicants would get two months' salary and possible payments to offset notice. 

Average staff headcount for 2022/23 was 295, a year in which the company reported losses of £42m. 

Click chasing

The shift to digital and investigations by the BBC outside London has an exemplar on the website today (c1230). 

Note the difference between the headline on the 'front page': "Ketamine addict: I can't walk 50m without weeing", and the headline on the story proper "Ketamine bladder: Special clinics as youth addiction 'explodes'". All apparently the work of "BBC West investigations", who have produced 'Young and addicted: Generation Ketamine' on iPlayer. 

Naja in Italy

 

"We are very, very fast and very loud when we correct our mistakes" BBC News Digital Director Naja Nielsen, speaking in a debate about 'The promise and peril of public service news in a changing media landscape', at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia today. 

Ahead of the game ?

The BBC seems in need of a strategy boost. 

"The BBC is recruiting two Heads of Strategy on a 12-month fixed-term basis for the Group Strategy & Performance division."

Salary up to £90k each.