Here’s a key task for the new boss at the BBC: solve the mystery of all the disappearing women |
As the BBC closes in on a new director general, the possibility again arises that it could be a woman. The talk is of the former BBC One controller Jay Hunt, the former Channel 4 boss Alex Mahon or the former BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore.
At this point in the BBC’s history, almost everyone would applaud a woman at the top – but clearly the institution needs a lot more than a woman, however pioneering and accomplished, at the helm. We know from the excoriating report commissioned by the broadcaster itself that it has a grave problem with dwindling numbers of “older women” presenters. Trevor Phillips, 72, still shines at Sky, while David Aaronovitch, 71, is deservedly a fixture on Radio 4: they’re just older men, experienced journalists, doing their thing.
But women are different, it seems – especially after midlife, according to the report, with a “noticeable mismatch” at the BBC in the treatment of women over 60 in news, in content more broadly and in regional broadcasting (so pretty much everything).
This will come as zero surprise to female broadcasters who have been saying this for years, but who have been fobbed off by too-busy-to-care commissioners or have been urged to be content with a short slot on someone else’s presenting gig (usually a man’s).........