§ 105. Sir Ian Fraserasked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether on the appointment of the new governors to the B.B.C., he continued the war-time practice of asking for undertakings from, and giving instructions to, them and in what form.
303W
§ Mr. BurkeNo undertakings were sought from the recently appointed Governors, nor were any instructions given to them on appointment. At the stage, however, when they were invited to accept the appointments they were informed of the conditions of their appointments in the following terms:
- (1) Governors of the British Broadcasting Corporation act primarily as trustees to safeguard the broadcasting service in the national interest;
- (2) with the Director-General, they discuss and then decide upon major matters of policy and finance, but they leave the execution of that policy and the general administration of the service in all its branches to the Director-General;
- (3) Governors should he able to judge of the general effect of the service upon the public and are, of course, finally responsible for the conduct of it;
- (4) under Clause 12 (b) of the Charter a Governor is disqualified if he holds any office or place of profit in which his interests may conflict with the interests of the Corporation.