It (the BBC) is an institution with a thick layer of egregiously poor management. For every journalist foot-soldier, gamely filing reports from war zones, there is, back at HQ, a battalion of worse-than-useless, middle-ranking meddlers with only one aim: to survive long enough to draw a pension. These are what a news editor described to me as "creatures of the corridors". Many are failed broadcasters. They exist in a parallel universe of meetings about meetings. They are masters of work creation, digging holes in order to fill them in, communicating largely by sanitised memos. They know every BBC guideline on race, gender, equality, diversity, health and safety. Yet when required to take a decision, they refer up, delegate down or, better still, go missing. They abhor accountability. (Speaking in 2007)
