George Entwistle named new BBC director-general

The BBC Trust has announced George Entwistle has been hired as the new director-general.

The current director of BBC Vision will take over from Mark Thompson who is stepping down after the Olympics. Thompson announced in March he would be stepping down as director-general, a post he has been in since 2004.
Entwistle will be on a salary of £450,000 per year, down on the £671,000 a year Thompson was paid. The decrease comes as the BBC implements its Delivering Quality First measures, looking at reducing the costs of running the BBC after the licence fee was frozen.
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten has said Entwistle is committed to the “public service ethos” that the BBC has.

“I’m delighted that the Chairman and Trustees have decided I’m the right person for the job. And I’m very excited about all that lies ahead. I love the BBC and it’s a privilege to be asked to lead it into the next stage of its creative life.” – George Entwistle, 15^th director-general at the BBC

George has been with the BBC since 1989 when he joined as a broadcast journalism trainee. He worked his way up to become assistant producer on Panorama and going on to become editor of Newsnight in 2001.
In April 2011 he was appointed director of BBC Vision responsible for oversight over the main BBC channels.