I’m loathe to return to this subject because it has been done to death everywhere now. But I think a few key things have come out.
1. The two presenters were exceptionally juvenile doing what they did and should have known better.
2. Although they were employed to push boundaries, they are well aware of where to stop. They have to (and to be fair, they have) accept some level of responsibility. They are not children.
3. The BBC was way too slow in responding and getting proper, in person responses and apologies made. They should have known better that in a 24/7 news environment, every day brings a new paper, every hour a new bulletin on rolling news channels. “Get your retaliation in first” someone once said. If the BBC had got in first with fully fledged apologies, there’d be nothing to attack them about.
4. The BBC has lost a very good radio controller.
5. Blaming it on producers alone is still not enough. Of course at time of writing, I don’t know who the “senior” individual was that passed the programme as fit for transmission, but if you’re a producer working for a big-name talent, saying “no” to them can be next to impossible. And if you do say no, you might find yourself shifted off their show, and possibly out of work, because the talent complains that they don’t get on with you.
6. The suspension of Ross is very likely to affect others with the cancellation of various shows probably meaning various freelances will no longer have a gig. As well as staff members of his production company, many of the technical crew – camera operators and so on – are employed on a freelance basis. Let’s be a bit creative, and get someone else to present Film 2008 next week rather than just cancelling it altogether.
React fast, and react smart. Not doing that cost BBC1 its controller, and now Radio 2 its controller as well.