Tuesday, February 03, 2004
This is the Email Mark Byford sent out to all staff:
This email's going to all staff
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Last week saw some of the most extraordinary days in the life of the BBC and, I guess, for many of us in our own working lives.
We all feel shock and sadness at Greg’s departure. We will miss him hugely. He was loved and admired by us all. He achieved a tremendous amount in four years and created a fantastic impact. Gavyn Davies was also an outstanding Chairman, committed to a strong, public service BBC. He is an honourable man who we shall also miss greatly.
We all love the BBC and what it stands for. Greg has left us a strong legacy. We must now move forward together, using the Values as a guide to the way we behave towards each other and in all we do. The past week has highlighted that we are One BBC. Together we can ensure the BBC is even stronger in the future and will continue to make programmes and provide journalism of the highest standard in our aim to be the most creative organisation in the world.
Can I thank all the teams involved in the Hutton coverage for their professionalism at a particularly challenging time.
This is a difficult period ahead and I ask you all for your support and understanding. The Executive Committee is working hard together to play our part in bringing calm and a sense of stability. But all of us, every member of the BBC, now need to play a part to help lead the BBC through this period. Let’s all recognise WE are the BBC.
The Hutton Report has been published. We made some mistakes. We have accepted that we are going to learn from them.
The independence of the BBC is sacrosanct and will be protected by me and everyone around me. That’s what our audiences expect. The BBC will continue to provide strong and courageous journalism and high quality, innovative and ambitious programming across the board.
So much of what we have achieved in the BBC today has come from Making it Happen. I can now tell you that the 2003 Staff Survey shows that two thirds of you are now behind the changes. That’s fantastic. Let me be clear, the momentum of Making It Happen is unstoppable and we must all ensure during this period we do not take the foot off the accelerator.
Without the Hutton report, this was going to be a very big year for the BBC. Charter Review is now under way and we are going to argue vigorously for a strong BBC, clear in its purpose, enriching people’s lives both around the UK and around the world.
It’s important that recent events only make us stronger, and to do what we do best - making great programmes and delivering great services for all our audiences. Our ambition remains - to be the most creative organisation in the world.
The events of the last week are unprecedented and clearly all the team brief sessions this month rightly will be an opportunity for you to discuss together your own thoughts and feed them back to the Executive Committee. For me personally, one of the really big achievements of Greg was he knew how to communicate – regularly, without fuss and with sincerity. We will keep that going in the coming weeks, I promise.
This has been an incredibly difficult time. None of us have wanted it to happen, but we can get through it together.
We’re going to keep in touch together, regularly, and I plan to let you know how things are progressing later in the week.
Mark
This email's going to all staff
-------------------------------
Last week saw some of the most extraordinary days in the life of the BBC and, I guess, for many of us in our own working lives.
We all feel shock and sadness at Greg’s departure. We will miss him hugely. He was loved and admired by us all. He achieved a tremendous amount in four years and created a fantastic impact. Gavyn Davies was also an outstanding Chairman, committed to a strong, public service BBC. He is an honourable man who we shall also miss greatly.
We all love the BBC and what it stands for. Greg has left us a strong legacy. We must now move forward together, using the Values as a guide to the way we behave towards each other and in all we do. The past week has highlighted that we are One BBC. Together we can ensure the BBC is even stronger in the future and will continue to make programmes and provide journalism of the highest standard in our aim to be the most creative organisation in the world.
Can I thank all the teams involved in the Hutton coverage for their professionalism at a particularly challenging time.
This is a difficult period ahead and I ask you all for your support and understanding. The Executive Committee is working hard together to play our part in bringing calm and a sense of stability. But all of us, every member of the BBC, now need to play a part to help lead the BBC through this period. Let’s all recognise WE are the BBC.
The Hutton Report has been published. We made some mistakes. We have accepted that we are going to learn from them.
The independence of the BBC is sacrosanct and will be protected by me and everyone around me. That’s what our audiences expect. The BBC will continue to provide strong and courageous journalism and high quality, innovative and ambitious programming across the board.
So much of what we have achieved in the BBC today has come from Making it Happen. I can now tell you that the 2003 Staff Survey shows that two thirds of you are now behind the changes. That’s fantastic. Let me be clear, the momentum of Making It Happen is unstoppable and we must all ensure during this period we do not take the foot off the accelerator.
Without the Hutton report, this was going to be a very big year for the BBC. Charter Review is now under way and we are going to argue vigorously for a strong BBC, clear in its purpose, enriching people’s lives both around the UK and around the world.
It’s important that recent events only make us stronger, and to do what we do best - making great programmes and delivering great services for all our audiences. Our ambition remains - to be the most creative organisation in the world.
The events of the last week are unprecedented and clearly all the team brief sessions this month rightly will be an opportunity for you to discuss together your own thoughts and feed them back to the Executive Committee. For me personally, one of the really big achievements of Greg was he knew how to communicate – regularly, without fuss and with sincerity. We will keep that going in the coming weeks, I promise.
This has been an incredibly difficult time. None of us have wanted it to happen, but we can get through it together.
We’re going to keep in touch together, regularly, and I plan to let you know how things are progressing later in the week.
Mark
