The UK government has blocked another two Channel 4 directors from rejoining the broadcaster’s board in the latest sign of its willingness to intervene in media appointments.
People with knowledge of the process said culture secretary Nadine Dorries had declined to sign off on the reappointments of Tom Hooper, who directed the Oscar-winning The King’s Speech, and Althea Efunshile, who has a 30-year career in local and central government and is the last remaining non-white person on the board.
Critics said they saw the decision as part of a broader effort by the government to influence decision making in leading cultural and media institutions, particularly through an assertive approach to directorships.
It will leave the publicly owned but advertising-funded broadcaster, which is required by law to represent diverse communities, with an all-white board, at least temporarily.
Ofcom, the media regulator, said it would begin a process to find replacements for Hooper and Efunshile in the new year. Both of their three-year tenures expire at the end of the month.
Charles Gurassa, chair of Channel 4, had recommended they both serve another term and Ofcom had approved the reappointments, the people said.
Such recommendations had traditionally been rubber-stamped by ministers but Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has changed the approach and reappointments on culture and media organisations’ boards have become less common, the people said.
Earlier this year the government blocked the reappointment to Channel 4’s board of two women, including another person of colour, Uzma Hasan.
The interference by ministers was “really quite shocking”, said Steven Barnett, professor of communications at Westminster university. He called on ministers to explain the rationale for the latest decision.
“This is a channel which is required by statute to have regard to diversity and has a very proud record of doing just that,” he said. “For Channel 4 of all organisations to end up with an all-white board is, to put it mildly, very unfortunate.”
The changes to the board, which is responsible for ensuring that Channel 4 fulfils its legislative remit as well as its financial responsibilities, come at a sensitive time for the broadcaster.
Ministers are considering privatising the station, although the plans have been put on hold as officials review about 60,000 submissions to a public consultation held over a change in ownership.
It also comes against an at-times frosty backdrop between the government and the broadcaster, particularly over its news programming. Relations hit a low point two years ago when the channel replaced Johnson with an ice sculpture after the prime minister refused to take part in a debate on climate change.
Ofcom last week announced four additions to Channel 4’s board. The new directors are the former BBC Today programme and Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands, former Reuters executive David Kogan, advertising and marketing expert Tess Alps and former Channel 5 executive Dawn Airey.
Other senior cultural and media appointments have also come under the spotlight in recent months. These include the next chair of Ofcom, a post for which Johnson had favoured the former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre. Dacre has pulled out of the race.
Richard Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs partner, adviser to chancellor Rishi Sunak and Conservative party donor, was this year appointed chair of the BBC.
And in May, Sir Charles Dunstone, founder of Carphone Warehouse, resigned as chair of the Royal Museums Greenwich in protest after Oliver Dowden, Dorries’s predecessor, refused to reappoint a trustee.
Channel 4 confirmed that Gurassa had supported the reappointment of Hooper and Efunshile but declined to elaborate. Ofcom declined to comment further. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment.