Richard James Ayre was a member of the

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

, the governing body of the

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until its abolition in 2016. He is a former member for England of the

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Content Board and chair of its Broadcast Review Committee. He was formerly a BBC journalist, first as a radio and television reporter in Belfast through the 1970s, before becoming the Home News Editor in London (1979–84), Head of BBC Westminster (1989–93), Controller of Editorial Policy (1993–96) and Deputy Chief Executive of

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

(1996–2000). In retirement he has broadcast from time to time on media issues, and conducted interviews as part of the BBC Oral Archive project. He is a trustee of the

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, the charity which has sponsored archaeological excavations and research in Egypt for the past 140 years. In April 2022 he was appointed chair of the board of independent press regulator IMPRESS.

Education

Ayre was educated at Hastings Grammar School, a former state grammar school (now known as

Ark Alexandra Academy Ark Alexandra, previously known as Hastings Grammar School, William Parker School, William Parker Sports College, and later as Ark William Parker is a secondary school in Hastings, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. It was the only male single- ...

), in the seaside town of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, followed by

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at Durham University, during which time he was President of Durham Students' Union (1970—1971). He was also Editor of

Palatinate Palatinate or county palatine may refer to: *the territory or jurisdiction of a count palatine United Kingdom and Ireland *County palatine in England and Ireland * Palatinate (award), student sporting award of Durham University *Palatinate (col ...

for

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of 1969. His first journalistic scoop was witnessing an escape from Durham prison by John McVicar that he quickly reported in an interview with the BBC's Kate Adie, then a very junior local radio reporter. The incident is described in McVicar's biography ''McVicar by Himself''.

BBC

Ayre began his professional career as a reporter in Northern Ireland. In 1988, the then Home Secretary

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from the airwaves in response to

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bombing campaigns. It was seen by many as extremely damaging to freedom of speech and the press in Britain. When Ayre became Controller of Editorial Policy he took legal advice and was satisfied that the prohibition could not stop the use of actors' voices to replace the more cumbersome use of subtitling. This is credited as having rendered the prohibition increasingly ridiculous. He also re-wrote the BBC's Producer Guidelines into the most comprehensive manual of programme making ethics, which became a model for many broadcasters worldwide. He established Britain's first bi-media (television and radio) centre at BBC Millbank, introducing the first digital editing to British network journalism. In 1995, Ayre played a key part in steering the Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales to air - a decision which infuriated the BBC's then Chairman Marmaduke Hussey. Lords

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

and Birt have declined to be interviewed about the debacle and, with the death of Steve Hewlitt, Ayre has been the only person directly concerned prepared to be interviewed about it and the subsequent controversy caused by the actions of reporter Martin Bashir. In March 2010, the government announced that Ayre would join the

- the governing body of the Corporation - replacing fellow journalist Richard Tait. Reappointed in 2014, Ayre chaired the Editorial Standards committee of the Trust, the final court of appeal for audience complaints about BBC content.

Freedom of Information

Richard Ayre became a founder member of the board of the

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which pioneered open access with web casts of board meetings and fully published documentation. He was Chair of Article 19 (2003-2005), and was Freedom of Information Adjudicator for the

Law Society A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated ...

(2001-2015). He led Ofcom's 2007 enquiry into abuse of premium rate telephone services in television programmes. He conducted a review of broadcasting in Kuwait following the invasion by Iraq and following the allied invasion he chaired the Editorial Review Board for Al Mirbad - the first independent Iraqi-run radio and TV station.

References

External links

BBC Trust biography: Richard Ayre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayre, Richard James Living people Alumni of University College, Durham English male journalists Trustees of the British Broadcasting Corporation Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Hastings Grammar School