Mark Thompson
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Producers, directors and media figures
Mark Thompson (born July 31, 1957) is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4. Born in London and brought up in Hertfordshire, he went to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and Merton College, Oxford, where he took a first in English. He now lives in Oxford with his American wife Jane, and has three children.
Appointment as Director-General
Thompson was appointed Director-General on May 21, 2004. He succeeded Greg Dyke, who resigned on January 29 2004 in the aftermath of the Hutton Inquiry. Although he had originally stated he was not interested in the role of Director-General and would turn down any approach from the BBC, he changed his mind, saying the job was a "one-of-a-kind opportunity". The decision to appoint Thompson Director-General was made unanimously by the BBC Board of Governors, headed by the then new Chairman Michael Grade (another former chief executive of Channel 4). His appointment was widely praised: Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Shadow Culture Secretary Julie Kirkbride and Greg Dyke were amongst those who supported his selection. He took up the role of Director-General on June 22 2004 ( Mark Byford had been Acting Director-General since Dyke's resignation). On his first day he announced several management changes, including the replacement of the BBC's sixteen-person executive committee with a slimmed-down executive board of nine top managers. His salary for the year 2004/2005 (as disclosed by the BBC) was £453,000, not including a bonus which he waived for this period.
Controversy
In late 2007, Thompson's directorship at the BBC was criticised. Sir Richard Eyre, former artistic director of the National Theatre, accused the BBC under Thompson's leadership of failing to produce programmes 'that inspired viewers to visit galleries, museums or theatres'. He was also criticised by Tony Palmer, a multi-award winning film-maker. Of the BBC, Palmer stated that '[it] has a worldwide reputation which it has abrogated and that's shameful. In the end, the buck stops with Mark Thompson. He is a catastrophe.' It should be noted that Palmer at the same time praised other BBC departments. He has acted in a wide range of high-profile cases, including the Spycatcher case. More recently, he acted for Liberty in arguing that the detention of terrorism suspects without trial was illegal, for the League Against Cruel Sports in defending a challenge to the validity of the Hunting Act 2004, for a woman who established that she was entitled to be prescribed with the breast cancer drug Herceptin, and for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its claim to state immunity against claims of torture. He was a member of the Independent Arbitration Panel for the case Sheffield United v FA Premier League.
David Pannick QC appeared and won the case for BBC director-general Mark Thompson. The High Court ruled that the cult musical Jerry Springer - The Opera is not blasphemous, and Pannick stated that: "Judge Tubbs had acted within her powers and made the only decision she could lawfully have made; while religious beliefs were integral to British society, so is freedom of expression, especially to matters of social and moral importance."
Broadcasting career
He first joined the BBC as a production trainee in 1979. His subsequent career within the organisation has been varied, including:
- 1981 - assisted launching long-running consumer programme Watchdog
- 1983 - assisted launching Breakfast Time
- 1985 - Output Editor, Newsnight
- 1988 - Editor, Nine O'Clock News
- 1990 - Editor, Panorama
- 1992 - Head of Features
- 1994 - Head of Factual Programmes
- 1996 - Controller, BBC Two
- 1999 - Director, National and Regional Broadcasting
In April 2000 he became BBC director of television, but left the corporation in March 2002 to become chief executive of Channel 4.