Rain to blame for BBC’s poor coverage of Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

By BEN GLAZE
Published on 20/09/2012 00:00

The BBC’s new boss has apologised for the corporation’s “disappointing” Diamond Jubilee coverage – but blamed the weather.

George Entwistle, a former director of BBC Vision, became director-general on Monday, despite heavy criticism for his role in overseeing the BBC’s television coverage of June’s Thames Pageant to mark the Queen’s 60 years on the throne.

He admitted errors in the production of the celebratory showpiece and went on to outline his plans for encouraging more women to present factual programmes.

The corporation was accused of dumbing down the reporting of the spectacular river parade, which featured more than 1,000 boats but was soaked with rain and sparked thousands of viewers’ complaints over factual 
errors and “inane” commentary.

Mr Entwistle said: “Let me tackle the pageant head on. It was disappointing and I would be happy to add my apologies to those already articulated by BBC people, particularly about the factual mistakes we made.

“One of the key things for the BBC is to get its facts straight.”