(AFP) – A former Google executive took over as the BBC’s new director-general on Monday amid proposed job cuts and a $10-billion lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump, arguing that the world now “needs the BBC more than ever”. Matt Brittin, 57, who has no broadcasting or journalism experience, starts the job against a background of drastic shifts in the media landscape.
The British-born executive was for over a decade president of Google’s Europe, Middle East and Africa division, which earns around a third of its revenue. He previously worked as a consultant for McKinsey. Brittin replaces Tim Davie, who had held the BBC post since 2020. He resigned in November over the Trump lawsuit.
Trump launched his legal action over a documentary that included an edited clip of a speech he made ahead of the US Capitol riot in January 2021. The edit made it appear he explicitly urged supporters to attack the seat of Congress. The BBC said in March it had formally asked a US federal court in Florida to dismiss the lawsuit. Arriving at the BBC’s central London headquarters for his first day in charge, he was greeted by a handful of placard-waving protesters from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The corporation has said it is looking to axe up to 2,000 jobs as it tries to reduce costs by 10 percent over the next three years. Brittin told reporters he was “honoured” and “humbled” to be taking on the role. But he warned that “tough choices are unavoidable as we make savings”, in a note to staff. “We must be where audiences are, and experiment more bravely: test ideas, learn quickly and back what works,” he added.
– Reinvention – Brittin grew up in southern England and was educated at the University of Cambridge. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics as a rower after competing in the university Boat Race against Oxford as a student.
As well as managing the Trump case, he also faces the politically sensitive task of renegotiating the BBC’s Royal Charter that outlines the corporation’s governance. Its current charter will end next year. A sizeable proportion of the BBC’s income comes from the licence fee, which is payable by all UK households with a television, or whose occupants watch live screening online. But the BBC lost more than £1.1 billion in revenues last year as fewer homes felt the need to apply for one, a parliamentary committee report said in November.
The Trump lawsuit is one of a number of controversies to hit the corporation. Earlier in 2025, it was forced to issue several apologies for “serious flaws” in the making of another documentary entitled “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone”, broadcast last February. In October, it accepted a sanction from the UK media watchdog for what was deemed a “materially misleading” programme, whose child narrator was later revealed to be the son of Hamas’s former deputy agriculture minister.
Brittin said the BBC had “proved throughout its history how quickly it can reinvent itself to serve the needs of audiences”. “We need, collectively, to call on that sense of urgency now. That means moving with velocity and clarity,” he added in his note to staff.
© 2024 AFP
