Gavyn Davies and Greg Dyke, the two multi-millionaires who ran the BBC while pursuing unemployed single parents through the courts for not paying the company for permission to watch other TV channels, have resigned. Their resignations followed the Hutton inquiry’s condemnation of the media giant’s shoddy journalism that had allowed it to broadcast and then defend unfounded and uncorroborated allegations against the government.
Mr. Dyke, who resigned reluctantly, seemed not to have learnt from the Hutton inquiry, telling journalists that he could “not quite work what (the BBC) apologised for.” The former Director-General made his reputation at the corporation with what the Financial Times described as “a combination of soap operas, light entertainment and . . reality shows.” The newspaper claimed that under him “prime time news and current affairs programmes were moved to new time slots or cut back.” Neither he nor Mr. Davis, who were Labour party supporters, have ever apologised for the BBC’s continuing infringement of civil liberties as it enforces its tax on freedom of expression.