The BBC’s new director general is former Google executive Matt Brittin

Today the BBC announced it had selected a new director general: Matt Brittin, the former president of Google’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

One might see this news and wonder about Brittin’s editorial experience. He has very little but, as both the Guardian and the Telegraph took pains to point out, he is a Doctor Who fan, which I guess means he does at least like one BBC property. The Guardian reports that the BBC plans to hire a deputy director general to support Brittin, and that “that figure is expected to have serious editorial experience.”

Among other things, Brittin is going to have to contend with a $10 billion lawsuit from President Trump over edited video clips in a documentary, a scandal that forced out Brittin’s predecessor, Tim Davie. The BBC is also contending with dwindling audience numbers, even as it remains one of the largest public broadcasters in the world, and its royal charter — essentially the agreement between the BBC and the British government that lays out its mission and public obligations — is up for renewal in 2027. The hope seems to be that Brittin’s experience dealing with governments during his time at Google will help with negotiations, and that his tech background might help the BBC, which announced a deal with YouTube in January, regain audiences that have drifted towards social video.

Brittin was also a member of Great Britain’s 1988 Olympic rowing team, which delightfully means that British Rowing had an excuse to publish an in-depth profile of his rowing career. He appears to be a fan of AI; the Guardian writes that he “has previously urged the TV industry to ‘leap and to learn’ from the technology.”