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BBC Director General

Who is new BBC director general George Entwistle?

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

July 4, 2012 | 2 min read

BBC Vision director general George Entwistle has been named as the next director general of the BBC where he will take over from Mark Thomson after the London 2012 Olympic Games. But who is he?

After studying at Durham University, Entwistle began his career as a writer and magazine editor with Haymarket Magazines. He joined the BBC as a broadcast journalism trainee in 1989, before becoming an assistant producer on Panorama. Between 1994 and 1999 George was assistant editor and deputy editor on BBC Two's flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight; being promoted to editor the day before the 9/11 attacks. The show won a multitude of awards during Entwistles' time as editor, including five RTS Awards.

In 2004 he left Newsnight and went on to become head and commissioning editor of current affairs. In this position he reintroduced Panorama to a weekday peak-time slot and commissioned a variety of current affairs documentaries. He held this position for two years, becoming acting controller of BBC Four in 2006. During this time he commissioned highly successful programmes, including Golden Age of Steam and Ian Hislop's Beeching closures documentary, which remain amongst the most watched programmes on the BBC.

April 2011 saw the appointment of Entwistle to director of BBC Vision, placing him in charge of one of the world's leading multimedia content groups. He led BBC Vision's Knowledge, Learning and Multiplatform commissioning teams who, together, produced more than 1,600 hours of TV output a year.

Following the intense interviewing of four candidates, believed to include Caroline Thomson, the BBC chief operating officer, and Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, Entwistle was revealed as the new director general this morning (4 July). Currently on £270,000 a year at BBC Vision, he will now earn £450,000 per year in a role which sees his responsible the BBC's services across television, radio and online and for a global workforce of over 20,000 providing over 400,000 hours of content each year.

BBC Director General

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