Greg Dyke
Encyclopedia
Gregory "Greg" Dyke is a British
media
executive, journalist
and broadcaster
. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK
in print and then broadcast journalism
. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid
' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am
. In the 1990s he held Chief Executive positions at LWT Group
, Pearson Television and Channel 5.
He is most notable for his tenure as Director-General
of the BBC from January 2000 until 29 January 2004, a position from which he resigned following heavy criticism of the BBC's news reporting process in the Hutton Inquiry
. He is the chairman of children's television
company HiT Entertainment
and has been Chancellor
of the University of York
since 2004 .
Dyke was born in 1947, in Hayes, Hillingdon
, West London
, the youngest of three son
s. His father
was an insurance
office manager. The family lived in Cerne Close until he was 9, then moved to Cedars Drive, Hillingdon. He was educated at Yeading
Primary School and then Hayes Grammar School, which he left with one grade "E" at A-level
mathematics
. After school he was briefly a trainee manager at Marks & Spencer
before leaving to work as a trainee reporter for the Hillingdon Mirror, becoming chief reporter in eight months. He left the Mirror after attempting to stage a union
-backed protest against poor pay conditions by the junior staff of the work on the paper. He then got a job at the Slough Evening Mail
. Amongst his colleagues was future music journalist Colin Irwin.
He then went on to study for a degree at the University of York as a mature student, graduating in 1974 with a BA
in politics
. During his time at York, Dyke was active in student politics, and was part of a collective that produced a psychedelic underground student magazine called Nouse. He also met and married his first wife whilst at the university. As he was a mature student with work experience his politics were more of a traditional Labour supporter than some of more radical far left students. Contemporaries and friends at York included the future journalists Linda Grant
and Peter Hitchens
, the latter then a prominent member of the International Socialists. Dyke was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in 1999 and has been Chancellor since 2004.
. He had become disillusioned with newspaper journalism, and tried for a job as a junior reporter at BBC Radio Teeside. He was unsuccessful, apparently because the interviewers felt no-one would understand his accent. Dyke instead found work covering rural affairs for the Newcastle Journal. He moved back to London with Christine in 1974 to become was also campaign officer for the Wandsworth Community Relations Council. He hated the job and left to campaign to be elected GLC councillor for Putney. Again he was unsuccessful in this.
He was given assistance getting a job at London Weekend Television
(LWT) by fellow ex-Newcastle journalist Nicholas Evans
, who was at the time working on Weekend World
. Dyke got a junior position on LWT's local politics programme, in the current affairs department. His bosses there were John Birt and Peter Jay
. He attracted attention for trying to give the programmes he worked on a more populist edge. This led to him being given the chance to launch a new early evening current affairs topical news programme. This became The Six O'Clock Show
, fronted by Michael Aspel
, with co-hosts Danny Baker
and Janet Street-Porter
. The show is seen by many as the first example of British tabloid TV.
After the success of the Six O' Clock Show, Dyke was brought in by Johnathan Aitken
to become programme director at ailing station TV-am
in 1983. The station was doing very badly in the ratings compared to the BBC's popular Breakfast Time
magazine style programme. He was instrumental in reviving the breakfast show's fortunes by introducing a new schedule based around bingo, celebrity gossip and horoscopes. The introduction of Roland Rat
, a hand puppet created by Anne Wood, attracted large numbers of younger viewers to the show, boosting ratings. Following TV-am
, Dyke became Director of Programmes for TVS
, and later returned to LWT, making a fortune when Granada
bought out the firm. Stints at Pearson Television and Channel 5
followed.
, he had a good rapport with his employees and was popular with the majority of BBC staff, his management style being seen as more open and risk-taking than Birt's.
Jonathan Gifford, who worked for BBC Magazines in BBC Worldwide during the management of Birt and Dyke, observed "Dyke came across well. He was direct, sensible and approachable. His vision for the BBC was inspirational." Martin Montague, 31, a producer on digital radio station BBC7 said "I know that people in local radio think he walks on water because of all that he's put into that."
Apart from restoring staff morale, Greg Dyke laid claim to two major achievements during his office. In 2002 he introduced the Freeview terrestrial digital transmission platform with six additional BBC channels, and persuaded Sky TV to join the consortium. Previously this was an ITV subscription service
that had closed with major losses, but by mid-2007 it could be seen by more than half the population. After leaving the BBC, he said that he always realised that the introduction of Freeview helped to prevent a subscription funding model for the BBC gain traction, because it is impossible for broadcasters to switch off the signal to individual Freeview boxes.
However, he was criticised when he "forgot" to sell an equity stake in Granada Television, which presented a conflict of interest in his new postion. He caused controversy when he lost the rights to Premier League football to ITV, then accused the league of fixing the auction. Others were worried that the openess and high risk strategies of his management style could backfire on the corporation. An ITV executive was quoted as saying, "By being too radical and playing fast and loose with the public service remit, the BBC is inviting external regulation - and it deserves it."
Dyke controversially described the Corporation in early 2001 as "hideously white", based on statistics that showed the organisation's management structure was 98% white. Dyke said that "The figures we have at the moment suggest that quite a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds that we do attract to the BBC leave. Maybe they don't feel at home, maybe they don't feel welcome." Dyke set a target that by 2003, 10% of the BBC's UK workforce and 4% of management would be from ethnic minority backgrounds. In September 2004, Dyke received an award for his remarks from Glasgow-based organisation Empower Scotland, which fights against workplace racism.
& Andrew Gilligan
), after the publication of the Hutton Report. Hutton described Dyke's approach to checking news stories as "defective"; when Alastair Campbell complained about the story, Dyke had immediately defended it without investigating whether there was any merit to the complaint.
In an email sent to all BBC staff just prior to his resignation Dyke wrote:
It was subsequently established that Dyke had offered his resignation to the BBC's Board of Governors
while hoping that they would reject it. However, he was only able to secure the support of about one-third of the Governors. They voted 2–1 against him remaining.
Some BBC staff felt that too much blame had been placed on their organisation in the wake of the David Kelly affair in the Hutton Report,and that the government was interfering in the BBC. Groups of staff staged walk outs from Broadcasting House
and other BBC offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff and Londonderry, in protest at Dyke's resignation. In addition, on 31 January 2004, BBC staff paid for a full-page advert in the Daily Telegraph to express their "dismay" over Dyke's departure. The fundraisers hoped to raise £10,000, a lot less than the market rate for a full page advert in a broadsheet
newspaper. Reportedly they raised less than this amount, but were offered a deal by the Telegraph's advertising department which allowed the advert to be printed. It was signed by around 4,000 BBC employees; 10,000 (around a third of total BBC staff at the time) submitted their names for publication, but there was not sufficient space to include them all.
The statement in the advertisement read:
"Greg Dyke stood for brave, independent and rigorous BBC journalism that was fearless in its search for the truth. We are resolute that the BBC should not step back from its determination to investigate the facts in pursuit of the truth.
Through his passion and integrity Greg inspired us to make programmes of the highest quality and creativity.
We are dismayed by Greg's departure, but we are determined to maintain his achievements and his vision for an independent organisation that serves the public above all else."
Speaking on GMTV
on 30 January, Dyke himself questioned the conclusions of the report, saying "We were shocked it was so black and white [...] We knew mistakes had been made but we didn't believe they were only by us." He also claimed that Lord Hutton was "quite clearly wrong" on certain aspects of law relating to the case.
On 11 January 2007, the BBC published minutes of its post Hutton board meetings. It was revealed that Dyke had claimed he had been "mistreated and wanted to be reinstated".
as its new Chancellor, replacing Dame Janet Baker, who had served in the post since November 1991. There was some controversy regarding his appointment in the midst of the Iraq Dossier scandal. He officially took the post in August 2004. In this role, he is the honorific and ceremonial head of the University, as well as heading the University Development Board. He has also made a personal grant to the new Department of Theatre, Film and Television, to found the Greg Dyke Chair in Film and Television.
On 6 February 2004, Dyke announced that he had signed a six-figure book contract with HarperCollins
. The book ("Inside Story"), subsequently published in September 2004, goes into detail about Dyke's opinion on the relationship between the BBC and the British government, and of the Dr David Kelly affair and Hutton Inquiry
. It has had a poor critical reception. At the Cheltenham
Literary Festival in October 2004, Dyke accused the government of "trying to kill" Andrew Gilligan.
In July 2004, Dyke was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Sunderland
, Middlesex University
and in 2006 from The University of Bedfordshire
. In his acceptance speech for the latter, he attacked the government over its stance on the Iraq war heavily, and maintained that the Andrew Gilligan
story was essentially true, the story government dossier was sexed up and that the government staged a "witch hunt" to deflect from the real issues surrounding the Iraq war.
He was appointed Chair of the British Film Institute
on 15 February 2008, succeeding Anthony Minghella
.
On 10 March 2010, it was reported that he had been approached by Alexander Lebedev
and his son Evgeny Lebedev
to edit The Independent
and The Independent on Sunday newspapers http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7075889.ece.
In the wake of the News of The World hacking affair
, Dyke frequently appeared in the media to comment on events. In April 2011 he said "I don't think the News of the World is a great contribution to British journalism. [...]They had obviously being playing fast and loose for a long time and are now getting their just deserts."
programme on 8 July 2011 alongside comedian Steve Coogan
, where he confronted former News Of The World
deputy features editor Paul McMullen over his attitude to the events of the phone hacking scandal. Dyke told McMullen "You're [the tabloids] nothing to do with a free press, or a decent democracy". Distancing himself from McMullen he said "I've spent most of my life being a journalist, and I'm nothing to do with him, and neither are most other journalists." He continued "You could see there are occasionally, very occasionally, public interest cases but most of the time [it wouldn't make it less morally reprehensible]. These guys [tabloid journalists] just tapped anyone they could think of". He was also of the opinion stronger independent regulation of the press was needed, claiming that broadcast media had always more strictly regulated.
On 11 July 2011, Dyke wrote in the Financial Times that "from the moment it was revealed that the News of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler's phone, Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy the 60.9 per cent of British Sky Broadcasting that News Corp does not already own was all but over." He admitted, "for those of us who have been warning about the tactics used by the Murdoch operation for many years – Mr Murdoch once described me as 'an enemy' – the events of the past week have been sweet."
and in 1977 he attempted to win a seat on the Greater London Council
for Labour at Putney
. In later years he was a financial donor to the party, before leaving Labour prior to the 2005 General Election, in which he supported the Liberal Democrats.
On 2 May 2005, the former Labour
supporter Dyke went public at a Liberal Democrat press conference and said that "Democracy was under threat if Labour was elected for a third term".
On 20 April 2009, it was announced that he was to lead a review of the UK’s creative sector for the Conservative Party http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/20/greg-dyke-conservative-creative-industries-panel.
He lives in Hampshire
, near Stockbridge
, with his second wife, Susan Howes, an ex-sociology
teacher and probation officer
. Susan is now a trustee of Safe Ground, a charity which works with young offenders. They have four children, who are in their 20s and 30s. The Dykes also own a house on the West Coast of Cork
, Ireland
and was appointed as non-executive chairman of the club on 20 January 2006, following the takeover by the Supporters Trust, Bees United. He had previously served on the board at Manchester United
as a non-executive director from 1997 to 1999.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
executive, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in print and then broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio , television , and, especially recently, the Internet generally...
. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
. In the 1990s he held Chief Executive positions at LWT Group
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
, Pearson Television and Channel 5.
He is most notable for his tenure as Director-General
Director-General of the BBC
The Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and editor-in-chief of the BBC.The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC and is now appointed by the BBC Trust....
of the BBC from January 2000 until 29 January 2004, a position from which he resigned following heavy criticism of the BBC's news reporting process in the Hutton Inquiry
Hutton Inquiry
The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee...
. He is the chairman of children's television
Children's television series
Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...
company HiT Entertainment
HIT Entertainment
Hit Entertainment is a British-American entertainment distribution company established in 1989, and originally the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions called Henson International Television...
and has been Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
of the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
since 2004 .
Early years
Hayes, Hillingdon
Hayes is a town in the London Borough of Hillingdon, West London. It is a suburban development situated west of Charing Cross. Hayes was developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries as an industrial locality to which residential districts were later added in order to house factory workers...
, West London
West (London sub region)
The West is a sub-region of the London Plan corresponding to the London Boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow. The sub region was established in 2004 and was adjusted in 2008 to include Kensington and Chelsea. The west has a population of 1.6 million and...
, the youngest of three son
Son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents. The female analogue is a daughter.-Social issues regarding sons:In pre-industrial societies and some current countries with agriculture-based economies, a higher value was, and still is, assigned to sons rather than daughters,...
s. His father
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
was an insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
office manager. The family lived in Cerne Close until he was 9, then moved to Cedars Drive, Hillingdon. He was educated at Yeading
Yeading
Yeading is an area of West London, and part of Hayes. It is located on the boundary of the London Borough of Ealing and the London Borough of Hillingdon.-Etymology:...
Primary School and then Hayes Grammar School, which he left with one grade "E" at A-level
GCE Advanced Level
The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cameroon, and the Cayman Islands...
mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. After school he was briefly a trainee manager at Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
before leaving to work as a trainee reporter for the Hillingdon Mirror, becoming chief reporter in eight months. He left the Mirror after attempting to stage a union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
-backed protest against poor pay conditions by the junior staff of the work on the paper. He then got a job at the Slough Evening Mail
Hemel Hempstead Evening Post-Echo
The Evening Post-Echo was a British newspaper published in Hemel Hempstead and launched in 1967.This newspaper was notable for three reasons:...
. Amongst his colleagues was future music journalist Colin Irwin.
He then went on to study for a degree at the University of York as a mature student, graduating in 1974 with a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. During his time at York, Dyke was active in student politics, and was part of a collective that produced a psychedelic underground student magazine called Nouse. He also met and married his first wife whilst at the university. As he was a mature student with work experience his politics were more of a traditional Labour supporter than some of more radical far left students. Contemporaries and friends at York included the future journalists Linda Grant
Linda Grant (journalist)
Linda Grant is a British novelist and occasional journalist.-Early life:Linda Grant was born in Liverpool to a family of Russian and Polish Jewish immigrants....
and Peter Hitchens
Peter Hitchens
Peter Jonathan Hitchens is an award-winning British columnist and author, noted for his traditionalist conservative stance. He has published five books, including The Abolition of Britain, A Brief History of Crime, The Broken Compass and most recently The Rage Against God. Hitchens writes for...
, the latter then a prominent member of the International Socialists. Dyke was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in 1999 and has been Chancellor since 2004.
Working in television
After university, Dyke followed his first wife to NewcastleNewcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. He had become disillusioned with newspaper journalism, and tried for a job as a junior reporter at BBC Radio Teeside. He was unsuccessful, apparently because the interviewers felt no-one would understand his accent. Dyke instead found work covering rural affairs for the Newcastle Journal. He moved back to London with Christine in 1974 to become was also campaign officer for the Wandsworth Community Relations Council. He hated the job and left to campaign to be elected GLC councillor for Putney. Again he was unsuccessful in this.
He was given assistance getting a job at London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
(LWT) by fellow ex-Newcastle journalist Nicholas Evans
Nicholas Evans
Nicholas Evans is an English journalist, screenwriter television and film producer and novelist. Evans was born at in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, and educated at Bromsgrove School but before studying at Oxford University, he served in Africa with the charity Voluntary Service Overseas...
, who was at the time working on Weekend World
Weekend World
Weekend World is a British television political series, made by London Weekend Television and broadcast from 1972 to 1988.Created by John Birt not long after he moved to LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at lunchtimes on Sundays...
. Dyke got a junior position on LWT's local politics programme, in the current affairs department. His bosses there were John Birt and Peter Jay
Peter Jay
Peter Jay is a British economist, broadcaster and diplomat.-Background:Peter Jay is the son of Douglas and Peggy Jay, both of whom were Labour Party politicians...
. He attracted attention for trying to give the programmes he worked on a more populist edge. This led to him being given the chance to launch a new early evening current affairs topical news programme. This became The Six O'Clock Show
The Six O'Clock Show
The Six O'Clock Show was a regional television magazine show broadcast in the Greater London area and produced by London Weekend Television between 1982 and 1988....
, fronted by Michael Aspel
Michael Aspel
Michael Terence Aspel, OBE is an English television presenter, known for his reserved demeanour and rich speaking voice. He has been a high-profile TV personality in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, presenting programmes such as Crackerjack, Aspel and Company, This is Your Life, Strange But...
, with co-hosts Danny Baker
Danny Baker
Danny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Since the late 1970s, he has worked for a wide range of publications and broadcasters including NME, LWT, the BBC, and Talk Radio....
and Janet Street-Porter
Janet Street-Porter
Janet Street-Porter is a British media personality, journalist and television presenter. She was editor for two years of The Independent on Sunday. She relinquished the job to become editor-at-large in 2002...
. The show is seen by many as the first example of British tabloid TV.
After the success of the Six O' Clock Show, Dyke was brought in by Johnathan Aitken
Johnathan Aitken
Johnathan James Aitken is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman.-Playing career:Aitken was drafted 8th overall in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins. He only played three games for them. For the 2000–01 season he went over to the Czech Republic to play for HC Sparta Praha...
to become programme director at ailing station TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
in 1983. The station was doing very badly in the ratings compared to the BBC's popular Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time was British television's first national breakfast show, beating TV-am's flagship programme Good Morning Britain to the air by two weeks.The show was revolutionary for the time...
magazine style programme. He was instrumental in reviving the breakfast show's fortunes by introducing a new schedule based around bingo, celebrity gossip and horoscopes. The introduction of Roland Rat
Roland Rat
Roland Rat is a British television puppet character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously been behind the Mooncat puppet in the Children's ITV television programme Get Up and Go! David worked for Jim Henson, then the second series of The Young Ones...
, a hand puppet created by Anne Wood, attracted large numbers of younger viewers to the show, boosting ratings. Following TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
, Dyke became Director of Programmes for TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
, and later returned to LWT, making a fortune when Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
bought out the firm. Stints at Pearson Television and Channel 5
Channel Five
Channel 5 is a television network that broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1997, it was the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue network to launch. The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2010...
followed.
At the BBC
In 2000 he took over the helm of the BBC from John Birt. At the beginning of his tenure he famously promised to "cut the crap" at the Corporation. The "crap" he referred to was the complex internal market Birt had introduced at the BBC which, it is claimed, turned employees away from making programmes and into managers. Dyke reversed this trend - he reduced administration costs from 24% of total income to 15%. Unusually for a recent Director-GeneralDirector-General of the BBC
The Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and editor-in-chief of the BBC.The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC and is now appointed by the BBC Trust....
, he had a good rapport with his employees and was popular with the majority of BBC staff, his management style being seen as more open and risk-taking than Birt's.
Jonathan Gifford, who worked for BBC Magazines in BBC Worldwide during the management of Birt and Dyke, observed "Dyke came across well. He was direct, sensible and approachable. His vision for the BBC was inspirational." Martin Montague, 31, a producer on digital radio station BBC7 said "I know that people in local radio think he walks on water because of all that he's put into that."
Apart from restoring staff morale, Greg Dyke laid claim to two major achievements during his office. In 2002 he introduced the Freeview terrestrial digital transmission platform with six additional BBC channels, and persuaded Sky TV to join the consortium. Previously this was an ITV subscription service
ITV Digital
ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster, which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network as ONdigital in 1998 and briefly re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001, before the service ceased in May 2002. Its main shareholders...
that had closed with major losses, but by mid-2007 it could be seen by more than half the population. After leaving the BBC, he said that he always realised that the introduction of Freeview helped to prevent a subscription funding model for the BBC gain traction, because it is impossible for broadcasters to switch off the signal to individual Freeview boxes.
However, he was criticised when he "forgot" to sell an equity stake in Granada Television, which presented a conflict of interest in his new postion. He caused controversy when he lost the rights to Premier League football to ITV, then accused the league of fixing the auction. Others were worried that the openess and high risk strategies of his management style could backfire on the corporation. An ITV executive was quoted as saying, "By being too radical and playing fast and loose with the public service remit, the BBC is inviting external regulation - and it deserves it."
Dyke controversially described the Corporation in early 2001 as "hideously white", based on statistics that showed the organisation's management structure was 98% white. Dyke said that "The figures we have at the moment suggest that quite a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds that we do attract to the BBC leave. Maybe they don't feel at home, maybe they don't feel welcome." Dyke set a target that by 2003, 10% of the BBC's UK workforce and 4% of management would be from ethnic minority backgrounds. In September 2004, Dyke received an award for his remarks from Glasgow-based organisation Empower Scotland, which fights against workplace racism.
Hutton Report and resignation from BBC
Dyke resigned from the BBC on 29 January 2004 (as did Gavyn DaviesGavyn Davies
Gavyn Davies, OBE was the chairman of the BBC from 2001 until 2004, a former Goldman Sachs banker and a former economic advisor to the British Government...
& Andrew Gilligan
Andrew Gilligan
Andrew Paul Gilligan is a British journalist best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme in which he said a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction had been 'sexed up', a claim that ultimately led to a public inquiry that criticised Gilligan...
), after the publication of the Hutton Report. Hutton described Dyke's approach to checking news stories as "defective"; when Alastair Campbell complained about the story, Dyke had immediately defended it without investigating whether there was any merit to the complaint.
In an email sent to all BBC staff just prior to his resignation Dyke wrote:
- I accept that the BBC made errors of judgement and I've sadly come to the conclusion that it will be hard to draw a line under this whole affair while I am still here. We need closure. We need closure to protect the future of the BBC, not for you or me but for the benefit of everyone out there. It might sound pompous but I believe the BBC really matters.
It was subsequently established that Dyke had offered his resignation to the BBC's Board of Governors
Board of Governors of the BBC
The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replaced by the BBC Trust on 1 January 2007.The governors...
while hoping that they would reject it. However, he was only able to secure the support of about one-third of the Governors. They voted 2–1 against him remaining.
Some BBC staff felt that too much blame had been placed on their organisation in the wake of the David Kelly affair in the Hutton Report,and that the government was interfering in the BBC. Groups of staff staged walk outs from Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters and registered office of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.The building includes the BBC Radio Theatre from where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience...
and other BBC offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff and Londonderry, in protest at Dyke's resignation. In addition, on 31 January 2004, BBC staff paid for a full-page advert in the Daily Telegraph to express their "dismay" over Dyke's departure. The fundraisers hoped to raise £10,000, a lot less than the market rate for a full page advert in a broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
newspaper. Reportedly they raised less than this amount, but were offered a deal by the Telegraph's advertising department which allowed the advert to be printed. It was signed by around 4,000 BBC employees; 10,000 (around a third of total BBC staff at the time) submitted their names for publication, but there was not sufficient space to include them all.
The statement in the advertisement read:
"Greg Dyke stood for brave, independent and rigorous BBC journalism that was fearless in its search for the truth. We are resolute that the BBC should not step back from its determination to investigate the facts in pursuit of the truth.
Through his passion and integrity Greg inspired us to make programmes of the highest quality and creativity.
We are dismayed by Greg's departure, but we are determined to maintain his achievements and his vision for an independent organisation that serves the public above all else."
Speaking on GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
on 30 January, Dyke himself questioned the conclusions of the report, saying "We were shocked it was so black and white [...] We knew mistakes had been made but we didn't believe they were only by us." He also claimed that Lord Hutton was "quite clearly wrong" on certain aspects of law relating to the case.
On 11 January 2007, the BBC published minutes of its post Hutton board meetings. It was revealed that Dyke had claimed he had been "mistreated and wanted to be reinstated".
After the Hutton Enquiry
On 28 November 2003, Greg Dyke was formally appointed by the University of YorkUniversity of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
as its new Chancellor, replacing Dame Janet Baker, who had served in the post since November 1991. There was some controversy regarding his appointment in the midst of the Iraq Dossier scandal. He officially took the post in August 2004. In this role, he is the honorific and ceremonial head of the University, as well as heading the University Development Board. He has also made a personal grant to the new Department of Theatre, Film and Television, to found the Greg Dyke Chair in Film and Television.
On 6 February 2004, Dyke announced that he had signed a six-figure book contract with HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
. The book ("Inside Story"), subsequently published in September 2004, goes into detail about Dyke's opinion on the relationship between the BBC and the British government, and of the Dr David Kelly affair and Hutton Inquiry
Hutton Inquiry
The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee...
. It has had a poor critical reception. At the Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
Literary Festival in October 2004, Dyke accused the government of "trying to kill" Andrew Gilligan.
In July 2004, Dyke was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Sunderland
University of Sunderland
The University of Sunderland is located in Sunderland, north east England. The university has more than 17,500 students, including 7,000-plus international students from some 70 countries....
, Middlesex University
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...
and in 2006 from The University of Bedfordshire
University of Bedfordshire
The University of Bedfordshire is based in Luton and Bedford, the two largest towns in the English county of Bedfordshire. The university was created by the merger of the University of Luton and the Bedford campus of De Montfort University on 1 August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council...
. In his acceptance speech for the latter, he attacked the government over its stance on the Iraq war heavily, and maintained that the Andrew Gilligan
Andrew Gilligan
Andrew Paul Gilligan is a British journalist best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme in which he said a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction had been 'sexed up', a claim that ultimately led to a public inquiry that criticised Gilligan...
story was essentially true, the story government dossier was sexed up and that the government staged a "witch hunt" to deflect from the real issues surrounding the Iraq war.
He was appointed Chair of the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
on 15 February 2008, succeeding Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella, CBE was an English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007....
.
On 10 March 2010, it was reported that he had been approached by Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev is a Russian businessman, referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs.In May 2008, he was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest Russians and as the 358th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $3.1 billion...
and his son Evgeny Lebedev
Evgeny Lebedev
Evgeny Alexandrovich Lebedev is the chairman of both Evening Standard Ltd, which owns the Evening Standard and also Independent Print Ltd which owns the Independent newspapers, which he bought in January 2009 and March 2010...
to edit The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and The Independent on Sunday newspapers http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7075889.ece.
In the wake of the News of The World hacking affair
News of the World phone hacking affair
The News International phone-hacking scandal is an ongoing controversy involving mainly the News of the World but also other British tabloid newspapers published by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police...
, Dyke frequently appeared in the media to comment on events. In April 2011 he said "I don't think the News of the World is a great contribution to British journalism. [...]They had obviously being playing fast and loose for a long time and are now getting their just deserts."
Comments on News of the World phone hacking scandal
Dyke appeared on BBC2's NewsnightNewsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
programme on 8 July 2011 alongside comedian Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
, where he confronted former News Of The World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
deputy features editor Paul McMullen over his attitude to the events of the phone hacking scandal. Dyke told McMullen "You're [the tabloids] nothing to do with a free press, or a decent democracy". Distancing himself from McMullen he said "I've spent most of my life being a journalist, and I'm nothing to do with him, and neither are most other journalists." He continued "You could see there are occasionally, very occasionally, public interest cases but most of the time [it wouldn't make it less morally reprehensible]. These guys [tabloid journalists] just tapped anyone they could think of". He was also of the opinion stronger independent regulation of the press was needed, claiming that broadcast media had always more strictly regulated.
On 11 July 2011, Dyke wrote in the Financial Times that "from the moment it was revealed that the News of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler's phone, Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy the 60.9 per cent of British Sky Broadcasting that News Corp does not already own was all but over." He admitted, "for those of us who have been warning about the tactics used by the Murdoch operation for many years – Mr Murdoch once described me as 'an enemy' – the events of the past week have been sweet."
Politics
In his early years, Dyke was an active supporter of the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and in 1977 he attempted to win a seat on the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
for Labour at Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
. In later years he was a financial donor to the party, before leaving Labour prior to the 2005 General Election, in which he supported the Liberal Democrats.
On 2 May 2005, the former Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
supporter Dyke went public at a Liberal Democrat press conference and said that "Democracy was under threat if Labour was elected for a third term".
On 20 April 2009, it was announced that he was to lead a review of the UK’s creative sector for the Conservative Party http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/20/greg-dyke-conservative-creative-industries-panel.
Personal life
Dyke has been married twice. He met his first wife Christine Taylor at York University, they were married for most of the 70s.He lives in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, near Stockbridge
Stockbridge, Hampshire
Stockbridge is a small town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has an acreage of and a population of little under 600 people according to the 2001 census in Hampshire, England. It lies on the River Test, in the Test Valley district and renowned for trout fishing. The A30 road goes through...
, with his second wife, Susan Howes, an ex-sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
teacher and probation officer
Probation officer
Parole officers and probation officers play a role in criminal justice systems by supervising offenders released from incarceration or sentenced to non-custodial sanctions such as community service...
. Susan is now a trustee of Safe Ground, a charity which works with young offenders. They have four children, who are in their 20s and 30s. The Dykes also own a house on the West Coast of Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
Football
Dyke is a fan of Brentford F.C.Brentford F.C.
Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....
and was appointed as non-executive chairman of the club on 20 January 2006, following the takeover by the Supporters Trust, Bees United. He had previously served on the board at Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
as a non-executive director from 1997 to 1999.
In popular culture
During his tenure at the BBC, he was regularly impersonated on the BBC TV Show Dead Ringers. His role played by Phil Cornwell but his accent was a mimic of Michael Caine. The character would always introduce himself by saying "My name is Greg Dyke, and I am director general of the BBC". After Dyke's departure from the BBC, in the last sketch it was changed so that he was no longer director general.External links
- BBC apologises as Dyke quits from the BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
- Video of Installation of Greg Dyke as Chancellor of the University of York
- Video of York Student Television 2005 Greg Dyke Interview
- Greg Dyke debates Reality Television BAFTA Webcast, January 2008
- Picture of Greg Dyke at Haye County Grammar School, 1958