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Thou Shalt Not Cover Thine Ass
23 October 2012
Why didn’t George Entwistle say ‘I made a mistake in not monitoring the Savile story more closely. I apologise and I will clear up this mess’? He would have been in a far stronger position and is now bound to face severe criticism later; indeed, his job is risk.
Part of the problem here is to do with BBC culture. It is a special organisation, but, fatally, it has turned this specialness into a permanent protective posture. All the statements about Savile betray this. They are issued by people whose first thought is survival and second is for the protection of the BBC from outside examination and judgment. Reith would be horrified; if he were now in charge, there would be hell fire sermons being delivered daily. Reith’s founding motto for the BBC – educate, entertain and inform – really meant ‘do good, be good’, not ‘cover thine ass’.
In a larger context, I strongly suspect they are victims of inane management culture – specifically the black art of damage limitation. Usually, as in this case, damage cannot be limited and the only sane strategy is confession of failure. In fact, confession of error, failure, incompetence should be normal in any organisation, How else can they expect to improve? Regular confessions would also get rid of the present absurd state of affairs where every slip leads to calls for ‘heads to roll’, resignation and so on.
Now, I suspect, Entwistle’s job hangs by a thread and the BBC’s self-protective culture has made it more vulnerable than ever. That’s one of the interesting things about big management ideas – they are always wrong but, by the time it becomes apparent, the kids that thought them up have moved on.
2 Responses to “Thou Shalt Not Cover Thine Ass”
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23 October 2012 at 9:36 pm
Maybe a Japanese-style culture of shame and self-denunciation would help, or is it just illusory that the Japanese are less corrupt? When we had more public propriety in the Fifties we still had tons of corruption, it was just covered up.
There seems to be more openness these days, but we have a hard time processing it, as though we’re still clinging to our innocence. Finding out what really goes on is a bit like discovering that your parents still have sex, it’s initially horrifying but you have to learn to live with it.
I suspect we’ll find our level eventually. More scrutiny, but also more honesty. The 24/7 media has an upside to it: it’s ferociously revealing with a much faster action-reaction cycle. It’s almost like heightened social self-awareness, like the way radar moved from long wavelength to short and allowed ever more detail to be discerned. Early radar could barely detect an elephant at 10 paces, but now it can count the pimples on your nose at 100 miles.
We’ve discovered we’ve got pimples and we’re a bit shocked, but I think it will work out.
4 November 2012 at 3:24 pm
It’s not a BBC preserve – all large public organisations are the same. And always to the same refrain ‘Lessons Will be Learnt’.