BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies warns against Charter change

At a dinner in Cardiff to mark the Board of Governors' visit to Wales, BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies said the BBC's 80-year-old model of governance worked well and cautioned against any attempts to change it during the forthcoming review of the corporation's Charter.
"The model has worked - not in the interest of politicians, or of the BBC's commercial competitors, but in the public interest," he said.
He went on to say that the relationship between Governors and the Executive meant the combined effort of both Boards was ensuring the BBC learns lessons from the David Kelly affair.
"The Governors in September asked the Director-General and the Executive Committee to formulate proposals for reform in several key areas including: the Producers' Guidelines relating to the breaking of controversial stories and to the use of anonymous sources, as well as compliance with these guidelines; the BBC procedures for considering and handling complaints in the Ofcom era; and the rules under which BBC journalists can write for newspapers and other journals.
"Some of these areas were related directly to the Kelly affair. Others were not. All of them merited a re-think," he said.
The Governors are currently considering these proposals and Gavyn Davies said he expected "final decisions will have the full support of both Boards".
Concluding this part of his speech, the BBC Chairman said the BBC's approach to its journalism remained unchanged: "Impartiality, accuracy and fairness have always been the BBC's drumbeat. Our commitment to these values has never wavered. And it will not do so now."
(GB)