BBC management 'must be held to account' over Bob Vylan broadcast, Shaw tells GB News

GB News

Former BBC journalist Danny Shaw has hit out at the broadcaster's "massive mistake" in airing punk rap duo Bob Vylan's Glastonbury performance live.After encouraging festival-goers to chant "death to the IDF" during their set on Saturday, Avon and Somerset Police have launched a criminal investigation into the set.FULL STORY HERE.

Transcript

00:00Breaking news for you now and it's this punk band Bob Villain, that's right, the ones at Glastonbury,

00:05they've had their US visas revoked ahead of a stateside tour later in the year because of the

00:12hateful tirade at Glastonbury. Now the duo have now reportedly been dropped by their agency and

00:18the BBC is now being investigated by the watchdog, of course, Ofcom. Now the media regulator says

00:25it's very concerned about the live stream of Bob Villain's performance, adding the BBC have

00:31questions to answer. Well, let's speak now with the former BBC journalist, Danny Shaw. Danny,

00:36welcome to the show. First of all, I'm guessing like most people that saw that footage or have

00:42seen it in the aftermath, you condemn it in its entirety. It's disgraceful.

00:46Hi, Martin. Good afternoon. Yes, absolutely. Condemn it. Disgraceful. Massive mistake for

00:52the BBC to take it live in the first place and then not to pull out of it while it was being

00:58transmitted. And I mean, I'll be really honest with you. I never heard of Bob Villain before

01:05the weekend. Perhaps that shows my age, my interest in sort of this kind of music. Now everyone knows

01:13who Bob Villain are. And all for the wrong reasons, I would say. I think it's a big mistake by the BBC.

01:22And I'm afraid this is not about guidelines. There are heaps and heaps of BBC guidelines.

01:29This is about a clear management failing, a failing by senior managers, senior editors. I don't know who

01:38it was, who was in charge, who had the oversight to make those decisions. But this was a massive

01:44failing. And it's not the first time we've seen a management failing like this. And a lack of

01:51understanding of what this group, what this duo were likely to do, an understanding of their

01:58background, the statements they've made, the sort of music and where they're coming from,

02:04the atmosphere that we're kind of living through at the moment. And all of that, I think, would have

02:10led them to make the decision, if they had understood that, that they shouldn't be streaming

02:15this duo live. But they made a wrong decision.

02:19All right. Well, Danny Shaw, Bob Villain is obviously an attention-seeking narcissist. Unfortunately

02:24for him, he's attracted the attention of the US government, had their visas revoked,

02:30we understand. And there goes their lucrative tour to America. So there's cause and there's

02:36action and there's consequences. But I want to ask you, Danny Shaw, something perhaps a little bit

02:41closer to the bone. You can blame this on the management or you like, but I put this to you.

02:46Is there actually a mindset in the BBC that largely agrees, not with death, death to the IDF,

02:51but they're very pro-Palestine in their mindset. They're of the Corbyn Easter end of the spectrum,

02:57a lot of the politics in the BBC. And I'll put it to you, the reason they didn't see this coming

03:02is perhaps they agree with the branch of politics as a poison in the BBC itself.

03:09Well, Martin, look, as someone who spent 31 years working there, I don't see this as an issue of

03:16systemic bias. I see this as, I'm afraid I've seen time and time again, this is poor management,

03:24poor oversight, lack of grip, lack of supervision. I saw, I worked with some brilliant managers,

03:30some really good editors who have made bold decisions, quick calls, particularly in news

03:36where you need to make decisions really quickly on difficult subjects and you need to make the right

03:40calls and then take responsibility if they don't go right. But I'm afraid there are not enough

03:45managers like that who are prepared to do that. And that's the failing here.

03:51Danny, if I may interject, do you not think it's fair to say that the prevailing mindset of the BBC

03:58is ostensibly, without a shadow of a doubt, at the critical end of the spectrum when it comes to

04:04Israel and the pro end of the spectrum when it comes to Palestine? Yes or no? The evidence is

04:09abundantly clear.

04:10I don't think that. I think they've made mistakes. I think they've made some serious mistakes and

04:16some really poor errors of judgment like the Gaza film, which went out without doing the due

04:21diligence behind it. On the other hand, they're being criticised for not showing a film about

04:27doctors in Gaza, which is now going to be transmitted by Channel 4. So in a way, they get criticism from

04:34both sides of the spectrum. I believe it's more about a failure to confront substandard performance,

04:42poor performance, bad behaviour. You see that around this issue. You see that around other issues,

04:48around bullying, around sexual misconduct. And, you know, it's just weak management in my view.

04:55Now, sometimes those issues are really difficult to confront and it takes a bit of bravery.

04:59And that's where I think you see the problems and that's what I think you saw at the weekend as well.

05:05So, Danny Shaw, we're expecting a statement from Lisa Nandy, of course, the Media and Culture

05:10Secretary, shortly on this matter. It's an extraordinary state of affairs that a Labour government may be

05:16chastising the BBC over its coverage of Glastonbury.

05:20Well, it's not surprising that the Labour government is chastising the BBC. If you remember the

05:26sexed up dossier, Martin, going back to the death of David Kelly, that was a Labour government.

05:37Alistair Campbell was then the, you know, the chief spin doctor. That was a Labour government in direct

05:41sort of conflict with the BBC. So there's no, this isn't a party political thing. Governments of both

05:48Conservative and Labour have clashed with the BBC at times when there's been some scandal or crisis

05:54and the government feels it needs to give them a kicking or needs to sort of, you know, hold its

05:59line. So I don't really read anything into that, Martin, I'm afraid.

06:03Danny, putting that to one side, we've got Sharon Heskel, the Israeli minister, calling for the BBC's

06:09Director-General Tim Davy to resign over this blatant anti-Semitism, as she calls it.

06:15This isn't a politicised attack. This has offended millions of Jews across the planet.

06:23Yeah, I'm sure it has. And I think he's under a huge amount of pressure because there have kept

06:29being blunder after blunder after blunder. You know, the Gary Lineker tweets was allowed to go on for far

06:34too long. We, as I said, the Gaza documentary, we've had the Hugh Edwards affair and other celebrities

06:41who, you know, whose behaviour has been reprehensible. And a lot of it has been under Tim Davy's watch.

06:47So, of course, he's under huge pressure because at the end of the day, someone's going to have to

06:52take the rap for this mistake. And, you know, clearly questions are being asked about him and his

06:58leadership. Do you think he should get the job?

07:00I don't personally think he should get the job, but someone needs to be held to account. Who was

07:08managing that? Who was making the decisions? Who was doing the oversight on Saturday afternoon?

07:14That's what I want to know. That's the manager or the editor that needs to be held to account for

07:19that. I don't want some witch hunt. I don't want some public flogging. I'm just saying that that person

07:24needs to be held responsible for the decisions they made to allow that to go ahead live and then not to

07:29pull from the broadcast.

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