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| Matt Brittin |
~Story, Courtesy, BBC
Matt Brittin, the former president of Google’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa operations, has been officially confirmed as the BBC’s new director general.
He steps in to replace Tim Davie, who announced his resignation in November amid backlash over Panorama’s controversial editing of a speech by US President Donald Trump.
Brittin’s tech-savvy leadership is set to steer the broadcaster into a new era.
BBC chairman Samir Shah said Brittin, who left Google in 2025 after 18 years, "brings to the BBC deep experience of leading a high-profile and highly-complex organisation through transformation."
Brittin, 57, said he "can't wait to start this work", describing it as "a moment of real risk, yet also real opportunity."
He said the UK needs "a thriving BBC that works for everyone in a complex, uncertain and fast changing world."
Setting out his agenda, he added: "The BBC needs the pace and energy to be both where stories are, and where audiences are. To build on the reach, trust and creative strengths today, confront challenges with courage, and thrive as a public service fit for the future."
Radical reform'
Shah called Brittin "an outstanding leader" with "the skills needed to navigate the organisation through the many changes taking place in the media market and in audience behaviours.”
The chairman also praised Brittin's "passion for the BBC, his understanding of the challenges facing the organisation, his commitment to its independence and his determination to maintain the BBC's position as one of the country's greatest national assets.”
The new director general joins at "a critical time", as the government reviews the BBC's royal charter, Shah continued.
"It is clear there is need for radical reform of the BBC, its funding model and the framework in which it operates. The stakes for the BBC, and the future of public service broadcasting, have never been higher."
During Davie's tenure as the BBC's 17th director general, he was responsible for dealing with a series of scandals and crises at the corporation.
Brittin's priorities will include handling a multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuit filed by the US president against the BBC.
Trump is objecting to the way Panorama edited together two sections of a speech he gave on 6 January 2021, for which the BBC has apologised.
Last week the corporation urged a court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the Panorama episode never aired in the US.
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