socialmedian: Lord Burns means business at Channel 4

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Source: The Guardian

Nov 09, 2009

Summary

Newly crowned as chairman of Channel 4, Lord Burns faces many challenges if he is to retain his reputation as Teflon Terry

After a career mostly spent in academia and government, Lord (Terry) Burns was very much the businessman rather than the showman when his appointment as chairman was confirmed last week. With no personal press officer, he expressed his delight in a statement about "a time of great change … in the communications sector" in which "Channel 4 has a very special and continuing role to play."

So, who is the man who is about to direct the future of the state-owned broadcaster? And, more importantly, where will he take an advertising-supported company that has flirted with public funding and private takeover?

A former permanent secretary at the Treasury who once chaired Marks & Spencer and now chairs Abbey National, Burns is a liberal economist who believes firmly in competition. Yet those who groan over the choice of an establishment, white, male figure to head the once-maverick broadcaster, which launched 27 years ago this month, may be missing a

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