Almost a year since the process first began, the UK government has reopened the search for a new chair of media regulator Ofcom.
As TVBEurope reported earlier this month, the search is being led by senior civil servant Sue Gray.
Ofcom has been without a chair since December 2020 when Lord Burns stood down. Since then there has been much speculation as to who would take over, with reported government favourite Paul Dacre dropping out last year.
In recent months both former BBC chairman Michael Grade and Mike McTighe, chairman of BT’s Openreach business, have been posited as possible contenders.
Julian Knight, chair of the Digital, Media Culture and Sport Committee said the on-going process would “put a reality TV series to shame”.
“In an unexpected plot twist, would-be candidates have been given an extra seven days to apply. Not content with the outcome of the initial round of interviews, the DCMS restarted the process using headhunters to get a better field of candidates, only to see a favourite walk away,” he added.
“Now, that better field of candidates is not enough. The word shambles has begun to look like an understatement. Hopefully, we’ll see DCMS officials making the sort of employment checks on the successful candidate to avoid any potential for later embarrassment.”
