Making the grade

Michael Grade is to be the new BBC Chairman. His views on Doctor Who aside - and the Chairman has very little role in editorial decisions like that, unlike the Director-General - I think he's a very good choice, and it'll be interesting to see what happens now with the role of Director-General. I saw an article earlier this week (as always, can't remember exactly where) that suggested Grade was one of the candidates who favoured splitting the role of Director-General into two positions - a Chief Executive and an Editor-in-Chief.

It'll be interesting, though, and I think the appointment of Grade is going to be making BBC staff feel a lot happier today.

Update: Norman Lebrecht has a good piece in the Evening Standard on Grade (sadly it doesn't seem to be available online) discussing how he is the anti-Birt. It also suggests that, while Mark Thompson and Michael Jackson will be perceived as the favourites, Jenny Abramsky could well be the next Director-General as she'll be retiring in 2006, which makes for a good appointment until Charter renewal.