BBC may delay hunt for new director general amid pandemic

The BBC is discussing delaying the hunt for its next director general because of the pandemic’s impact on the recruitment process, as it emerges that the current shortlist features just one woman.

It is understood that the BBC is considering postponing interviews with the final candidates to replace Tony Hall from early June to September. Under such a plan, which is understood to not yet be signed off, the successful candidate would be hoped to be in place by January.

Sources say the coronavirus crisis has affected the number of potential applicants because many are top executives at companies grappling with issues such as furloughing hundreds of staff and cutting costs, which means they might be viewed in a poor light if they were involved with a potential move to run the BBC.

The BBC is known to have shortlisted three candidates: Will Lewis, the former chief executive of the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and two of the corporation’s most senior executives, Tim Davie and Charlotte Moore.

The corporation had several contenders it thought might accept the fourth shortlist position, with the hope that one of the highly qualified female candidates being considered would throw their name in the hat, but this has not happened.

The fourth candidate on the list is understood to be Doug Gurr, the New Zealand-born head of Amazon’s UK and Ireland operations. A spokesman for Amazon UK said: “We never comment on rumour and speculation.”

The BBC is known to have approached a number of highly qualified female candidates about participation in the recruitment process: Alex Mahon, the chief executive of Channel 4; Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of ITV; Jane Turton, the head of All3Media, the production group behind shows ranging from Call the Midwife to Gogglebox; and Sophie Turner Laing, the former senior Sky executive and outgoing head of Endemol Shine Group, maker of shows including Broadchurch and Black Mirror.

Davie, who is seen as the frontrunner for the role, is chief executive of BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm. His colleague Moore, who works on the licence fee-funded side of the corporation, is the BBC’s director of content. Lewis, who has become embroiled in the phone hacking scandal at his former employer News UK, publisher of the Times and Sun, left his role at Dow Jones earlier this month. And Gurr, who stepped into the fourth shortlist position as the BBC mulled over whether to extend the process, is at the world’s biggest online retailer, which is weathering the crisis well as the UK’s high streets are in lockdown.