Ofcom today announced the appointment of five non-executive members of its Content Board – the committee of the main Ofcom Board with delegated responsibility for content issues.
The appointments follow a review of the role of the Content Board undertaken by Philip Graf following his appointment as Chairman of the Content Board and Deputy Chairman of Ofcom in January this year. He was assisted by Adam Singer, who was appointed Deputy Chairman elect of the Content Board in April.
The review sought to:
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take forward the significant contribution of the Content Board to date in shaping Ofcom’s policies on content matters;
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expand the Content Board’s focus on digital content with the transition to all-digital television broadcasting due to begin in two years’ time; and to broaden the scope, experience and engagement of the Content Board in this area.
The previous terms of appointment of all the Content Board’s non-executive members expired at the end of June 2006. The new terms of appointment are for three or four years, expiring no later than 31 July 2010.
Philip Graf said: “The Content Board will play a critical role in shaping Ofcom’s approach to digital broadcasting and the growth of content delivery over digital networks. I'm delighted with these new appointments."
The new non-executive members are:
Richard Ayre, becomes the Ofcom Content Board member for England. He is a former Deputy Chief Executive of BBC News and a senior BBC journalist of 27 years’ experience until he took early retirement in 2000. As Controller of Editorial Policy in 1993, Richard authored the BBC’s Producer Guidelines, the Corporation's programme-making code of ethics. He is currently a Board member of the Food Standards Agency, the Law Society’s Freedom of Information Adjudicator a Governor of Teachers'TV.
Dr Paul Moore, becomes the Ofcom Content Board member for Northern Ireland. An academic with over 25 years’ teaching and writing experience in the field of media studies and related areas, Paul is Lecturer and Course Director in Media Arts at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. Between 1994 and 2004, he was a Board member of the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission. He has been involved in community arts in Northern Ireland for many years. He has been a freelance presenter with BBC Radio Ulster since 1991.
Anthony Lilley is Chief Executive of Magic Lantern Productions, a digital media production and consultancy company. He is an award-winning digital media producer and has undertaken consultancy work for such clients as DTI (various projects on broadband content and skills), DfES (advisor on public service broadcasting and public sector media archives), DCMS (future of intellectual property) and numerous commercial clients. Anthony is a member of the board of the British Educational Communications Technology Agency (BECTA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.
Additionally, the following non-executive members have been re-appointed to the Content Board:
Sue Balsom is the Ofcom Content Board member for Wales. She is the Managing Director and founder of FBA Group Ltd – a public relations, design and publishing and e-learning company with offices in Aberystwyth and Cardiff. She is currently Chair of Prince’s Trust Cymru and was Vice-Chair of the BBC Broadcasting Council for Wales between 1997 and 2003. A former journalist, television researcher and secondary school teacher, Sue was named Western Mail Welsh Woman of the Year 2004.
Pam Giddy is the Director of the Power Inquiry, an independent commission looking at democratic issues. She was the first female Director of Charter88, the independent campaign group for modern and fair democracy. She is a former political producer of the BBC's Newsnight programme and worked on Cosmopolitan magazine between 1992-3 as careers editor and news editor.
A new non-executive member is also being sought to represent the interests of Scotland. This appointment will be made later this summer.
The total of non-executive members of the Content Board will be ten. This number includes: Philip Graf, the Chairman; Adam Singer, the Deputy Chairman; Kath Worrall, the chair of the Fairness Committee, reappointed in April; Millie Banerjee, a non-executive member of the main Ofcom Board.
In addition, there are two Ofcom executive members of the Content Board: Kip Meek and Tim Suter.
