THE BBC’s director-general has been lined up to give the keynote speech at this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Mark Thompson will giving the MacTaggart Lecture at the MediaGuardian-sponsored festival, and may use some of it to counter last year’s speaker, News Corporation’s Asia and Europe head, James Murdoch, who used his speech to launch a scathing attack on the BBC, calling the scale of its ambitions “chilling” and arguing that it needed to be radically reduced in size.
The Guardian quotes Thompson, saying: “In what is a big year for the BBC as well as the rest of the broadcasting industry, it’s a great privilege to be asked to give the MacTaggart Lecture, and I’m looking forward to it.”
This will be Thompson’s second MacTaggart, his other one being eight years ago when he was chief executive of Channel 4.
The festival takes place in late August.
