(Bloomberg) — Former British Broadcasting Corp. chairman Michael Grade will chair media and internet regulator Ofcom, the U.K. government said, ending a long and controversial search.
Grade recently called Alphabet Inc.’s Google “parasites” who ignore copyright and profit from other companies’ content through YouTube, according to Parliamentary records. He also criticized Facebook’s approach to data privacy in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The 79-year-old had been up against former deputy chairman of the ruling Conservative Party Stephen Gilbert. Telegraph Media Group deputy chairman Guy Black was also approached to apply.
They all represent the Conservatives in the U.K.’s upper House of Lords, though a statement from the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport said Grade will not be allied to any one party if his appointment is approved.
Bloomberg reported Grade’s application in December. As well as helming the BBC, Grade ran the U.K. state-owned Channel 4 from 1988 to 1997 and has spoken in favor of privatizing the corporation, a plan the current administration is considering. He was also chairman of the country’s biggest free-to-air broadcaster ITV Plc from 2007 to 2009. He has criticized the BBC’s news coverage in recent weeks as “too aggressive.”
Ofcom regulates Britain’s telecommunications networks, postal system and television. The government is planning to hand it significantly more power to investigate and sanction the biggest web companies.
The search took on a symbolic meaning for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government, which is determined to redress what is sees as a left-wing bias in public institutions such as the BBC and the boards of museums and galleries.
Ofcom’s chief executive officer is Melanie Dawes, who was previously a senior civil servant. Despite the regulator’s importance, it has lacked a permanent chair for more than a year. The process was restarted after Johnson’s preferred choice, former tabloid Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, was found “unappointable” by an interview panel.
Then a second search was extended after Dacre withdrew and published an open letter complaining about bias in the U.K.’s civil service. Johnson had personally asked him if he wanted the job, Dacre wrote in the Spectator magazine.
Grade’s appointment is pending a final hearing from a committee of lawmakers which scrutinizes the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Representatives for Google and Meta didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Updates with context throughout)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
