Who needs Jade Goody, when you have Greg vs. Tessa

Emily Bell writes about the political machinations that led to the then Director General, Greg Dyke being forced to resign from the BBC...

After finally learning about Dyke, we want the floodgates open In the media and in government there is a predilection for rattling on about clarity, openness and accountability. No wonder then we all got so very excited about the series of unfortunate incidents that culminated in the Hutton report. Despite many fine words it is a shame it took a Freedom of Information request from the Guardian to secure the minutes of key meetings that led to the governors of the BBC accepting the resignation of the then director general Greg Dyke and chairman Gavyn Davies. Not too many people would argue that we have a right to know what really happens when two publicly-funded bodies fall out with such terrible results.

The point is who is serving who here - where does accountability stop and start? Two public bodies and it takes a Freedom of Information request to get the information we want.

Bell then says

If only this incident were to set a precedent for how the relationship between the government and BBC should be conducted - with full public scrutiny. If this were the case we would be in for a treat with the paper trail relating to licence fee renewal.

The world is in need of greater transparency, not more smoke screens. And in a world where we are becoming more and more inclined to find the truth for ourselves. Any institution seen to subvert truth and transparency will inevitably suffer

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