Whisper it, but wars are good for business at BFBS. Our job as a charity is to provide entertainment and information to the military, especially those overseas. Although (officially) there are no UK boots on the ground in Ukraine, there are now several thousand nearby on Nato’s eastern flank, bordering Russia, and more on their way.
Thanks to the generosity of the broadcasters and rights owners, we give them great TV plus radio, e-newspapers and magazines.
A question – who wrote: “There are three structural things that the right needs to happen in terms of communications... 1) the undermining of the BBC’s credibility; 2) the creation of a Fox News equivalent / talk radio shows / bloggers, etc, to shift the centre of gravity; 3) the end of the ban on TV political advertising”?
When the editor of Television calls, my phone is bag-wrapped to prevent photography. I am at a secret charity dinner, supporting a military unit that I can’t name, at a location I can’t divulge. Social media is out.
The high-octane auctioneer Jonny Gould, who presented sport for me at London Tonight, alternately flatters the audience and abuses them (“Shut up in the cheap seats, with your clip-on ties and Casio watches”).
