‘I’ve worked at the BBC for decades – managers are weak, spineless and self-serving’

Inside the halls of Broadcasting House in central London, stickers are plastered across the floor with a catchy new slogan: ‘Call It Out’. The internal campaign was devised in April following the publication of a BBC workplace ‘Culture Review’ – which found some individuals still make life “unbearable” for colleagues – to remind the 21,000 staff (many of whom work in regional broadcasting centres) of the importance of speaking up, to escalate issues to bosses, and not stay silent.

The BBC confirmed that some people had been sacked post-review, although it did not reveal who. Despite these seemingly proactive steps, senior staff claim that behind closed doors, poor management is in fact crippling the organisation, wearing down journalists, and allowing repeated crises to balloon because no one makes tough calls in a timely fashion.

They say that raising complaints has led to being frozen out of opportunities. As well as being given no remedy. One staffer says she laughs every time she sees the new stickers, so disillusioned is she with the system.

“Everyone nods their head that something needs to be done, but in W1A style, no one wants to actually grasp the nettle, to be left with the hot potato, so they just refer up,” says one long-term employee. “Managers want the job title and salary but are weak, lily-livered and spineless”. The longest running joke at the BBC? That in a crisis, only “deputy heads will roll”.

Although they say these problems don’t have to be “terminal” for the corporation, they “despair at a large tranche of management”. They also claim nepotism is “rife,” which means internal promotions are no longer based on merit but proximity to management and “playing the game”. (An external Equal Pay Audit concluded no evidence of systemic bias in pay or hiring policies at the BBC).

The front of BBC Broadcasting House in central London (Photo: Lucy North/PA)

The i Paper has spoken to a number of staff from across the BBC on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals (in particular, being sacked). “We would be regarded as bringing the BBC into disrepute for speaking, even though we’re trying to make it a more accountable place, instead of the hypocritical one that it is,” one said. They claim their views are shared by hundreds more staff in private conversations. Although The i Paper is unable to verify this, an open letter anonymously signed by 100 staff in June over the BBC’s position on Gaza suggests all is not well.

Criticism of the BBC is often levelled by those, particularly other media bodies or politicians, who could benefit from a weakening of the corporation, but in recent months, repeated public crises – described deftly by Ofcom head Dame Melanie Dawes as “own goals” – are painfully obvious even to those not looking for a stick with which to beat it.

Set against a background of declining numbers paying the licence fee (a drop of 300,000 in 2024), this month, Gregg Wallace was dropped from Masterchef after 45 allegations of inappropriate behaviour were upheld (the BBC confirmed it will still run the latest series of the show, which leaves more questions). In February, the board apologised for “missed opportunities” to tackle bullying and misogyny by DJ Tim Westwood.

Then in June, BBC Breakfast editor Richard Frediani went on leave after allegations of bullying (he has now returned to work). Within the last 12 months, we’ve also seen Huw Edwards plead guilty to making indecent images of children, and the tarnishing of Strictly Come Dancing over bullying (six complaints against dancer Giovanni Pernice were upheld, although he was cleared of the most serious allegations).

John Torode and Gregg Wallace worked together on ‘Masterchef’ – Wallace had 45 complaints upheld

That’s without even getting into the Gaza documentary, which had to be removed from iPlayer after it was found that the 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official, and Glastonbury, where Bob Vylan’s chant [“Death to the IDF [Israeli Defence Force]”] was aired on live TV.

The BBC’s own culture and media editor, Katie Razzall, wrote: “There are questions whether due diligence was done. I’m told it was. It’s the BBC’s reaction as the set unfolded, and the perception it was too slow to act, that is a bigger problem”. Indeed, Dawes said: “When these things go wrong, it can take a long time for the BBC to see that something’s happened when everybody else was there within a matter of hours”.

The review hit this nail on the head: “For years, the BBC has shown earnest endeavour, good intention, but inconsistent execution when it comes to dealing with poor performance and bad behaviour… it states it has zero tolerance for unacceptable behaviour, but the words do not align with the actual experience.” So what is going wrong at our national broadcaster?

• The BBC does not have a toxic culture and things have improved internally since a similar review was undertaken in 2013.
• There are, however, a “minority of people who behave unacceptably and whose behaviour is not addressed and impacts employees and freelancers”.
• It found that these people work both on and off-air and are across different departments, but are often in positions “where power can be abused”.
• And although they are “small in number”, they create “large ripples which negatively impact the BBC’s culture and external reputation”.

“All the problems stem from poor management,” says one staffer. “You have to fall into line or your [management] career is stymied. So everyone manages upwards, towards their next job”. They say that the right noises are made when discussing problems, like bullying or harassment, but that doesn’t translate to decisive action. “Someone recently described it to me as ‘strategic ambiguity’, people acknowledge the problem but have no intention of being the one to fix it”.

Another staff member corroborates this. “I’ve seen crises firsthand and seen editors fail to take decisions. There is a culture of referring up. It is about the failure of those given responsibility to use it properly”. Another describes being “led by donkeys,” “feathering their own nests”. They acknowledge there are some good managers.

They describe a work ecosystem with, they believe, excessive layers of management. “From the Director General down to the researcher in the newsroom, there are probably 12-13 layers of management, and we probably need five. It is so top-heavy”. They say that new layers of management are “created at the drop of a hat”. “You have so many chiefs around the table, so no one wants to be the one to call out [the issue] because then you have to fix it”.

The number of senior leaders (the top employment band) at the BBC has more than halved since 2010 and now accounts for one percent of total headcount.

Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC (Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty)

When a problem arises, the staff The i Paper spoke to – who are established, not junior – are told if in doubt to refer up. “But referring up can take weeks because there are so many layers. Who is going to make that difficult decision?” said one. Another said they have “no confidence” that anything will be done. Not only do staff say they are left without solutions, but some claim that putting their head above the parapet often “falls back on you”. One claimed she had to change departments in a bid to reboot her career after she complained. Another described the system as “spiteful”.

“When I raised a grievance, it was farcical. Nobody seemed to be taking me seriously,” said one member of staff. “The boss class is investigating the boss class”. In the past, they say that HR took a more active role in protecting employees – “I remember one woman coming down to bollock someone on a flagship programme for their treatment of staff” – but no longer. They say the approach is akin to that taken by the Royal Family: ‘never complain, never explain’, to hold the line and say nothing. “So why would you put yourself out there and complain?”

“The minute you stand up and challenge the BBC, you get seen as a troublemaker rather than because you want the culture to change for the betterment of the whole team. They make it as difficult as possible for you to progress if you’re very outspoken. I have seen this play out more than a few times,” says one. “They keep implementing things [like Call It Out], but it is like a white elephant, to tick a box. Because the individuals investigating are the same.”

This is not ancient history: ex-presenter Aasmah Mir recently wrote about a current presenter who “behaves so badly they require a chaperone”.

An FOI from 2021 found the BBC had fully or partially upheld 33 out of 154 bullying and harassment cases since 2019. However, only one person was sacked. And in 2025, Deadline revealed that even those who have been the subject of upheld sexual harassment complaints don’t necessarily lose their job: five grievances were upheld, and one person lost their job. “You can’t ask people who are the problem to be part of the solution,” says one member of staff.

Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, leading chants of ‘death, death to the IDF’ (Photo: Yui Mok/PA)

Conversely, they claim that a lot of older people in the employment pool are being “pushed out,” leading to a loss of collective memory and invaluable experience. “One colleague – the oldest on her team – told me just today that her development has stopped. Younger people are being given opportunities, but she is not.” They add: “The BBC is not a place of equal opportunity, it does not follow its own advice.”

There is also anger at the way on-screen talent is handled. “They confer celebrity and greatness on people and then can’t harness it; this happens time and time again. Managers have immensely poor judgment. Why is it so difficult to go to someone like Gregg Wallace and tell them you had a complaint and won’t tolerate another one?” [Kate Phillips, now chief content officer, did warn Wallace in 2019 that the corporation would “seriously consider its future working relationship” with him if he did not heed warnings about his behaviour].

Disenchantment goes all the way to the top – director general Tim Davie. The most commonly levelled criticism? That Davie is not a journalist (he did marketing for PepsiCo and was twice a Conservative council candidate). “He has never been in the editor’s hot seat and is handicapped by that,” says one staffer. Ben de Pear, director of a film on Gaza medics that the BBC dropped, said, “Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making”.

Davie himself said in recent weeks – in spite of the repeated issues – he has not considered resigning. So, who should walk the plank? Who is to blame? Others, it seems. He said of Glastonbury: “There were individuals present who had the authority to cut the livestream”. (Davie was reported by the BBC to be in attendance at the festival on that day). One member of staff said there is “no consequence” for management when they get it wrong.

Staff say in order to fix the problem, they need real accountability from managers, as well as a proposed 360-assessment, which would allow junior staff to give feedback on senior colleagues. They want an effort at transparency. They also want to feel that managers better understand BBC values. “It is important to draw a distinction between the BBC, populated with fabulous talent, and management. When we talk about the ‘problem,’ we mean management.

“And the reason we are talking to you? We love the BBC and think it is more important than ever. Once it is gone, there will never be anything like it again”.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We’re committed to creating an inclusive organisation where everyone feels they belong and can do their best work. We would encourage anyone who does not feel supported to raise this internally because we want to do all we can to improve the culture within the BBC. In April, we published the findings and actions we are taking to make improvements, which include transforming how we manage concerns and complaints, launching a strengthened Code of Conduct, and improving our Respect at Work Policy.”

The corporation is actively working on the recommendations of the review: a new Resolving Concerns Helpline has been launched. And training sessions on Respect At Work and Raising Concerns reached 400 leaders and staff and 150 presenters in February. It says 75 per cent of staff in an engagement survey said the BBC was a great place to work.