Measures of central bank independence have sometimes used the rate of turnover of Central Bank Governors as an indicator of de facto independence (which, it turns out, is reasonably strongly correlated with de jure independence). How does it work for PSBs? The following table gives the average time in post of a number of PSB Directors-General.
| Public broadcaster | Average tenure of DG |
|---|
| NRK [Norway] | 9 years 8 months
|
| ABC [Australia] | 8 years 10 months
|
| YLE [Finland] | 8 years 6 months
|
DR [Denmark]
| 7 years 2 months
|
| BBC [UK] | 6 years 8 months
|
| CBC [Canada] | 5 years 4 months
|
| ORF [Austria] | 5 years 1 month
|
NHK [Japan]
| 4 years 6 months
|
Rai [Italy]
| 2 years 10 months
|
| PTV [Poland] | 2 years 10 months |
France Télévisions/ORTF
| 2 years 6 months
|
| Czech TV | 1 year 11 months |
| MTV [Hungary] | 1 year |
| RTVE [Spain] | 11 months
|
Norway
List of Broadcasting Chiefs of Norwegian PSB NRK [from
Wikipedia]
(According to his Wikipedia entry, Bernander is a freemason. A nice compliment to
Sandro Curzi's remarks about freemasons in Rai, no?)
Average tenure of DG: 9 years 8 months.
Percentage of government changes followed within six months by change of Director-General (Cukierman political vulnerability index): 3/21 = 14.29% [Korvald, Bruntland (I), Syse governments possibly followed by changes, though the timing may be wrong with no more precise dates than these]
Australia
Directors-General and Managing Directors of ABC:
- Sir Charles Moses (1935–65)
- Sir Talbot Duckmanton (1965–82)
- Keith Jennings (1982-83)
- Geoffrey Whitehead (1983–86)
- David Hill (1986–94)
- Brian Johns (1994–99 )
- Jonathan Shier (??/03/2000–31/12/2001);
- Russell Balding (29/05/2002–20/03/2006); left before the end of his five-year contract
- Mark Scott (22/05/2006–present)
Average tenure of DGs, excluding most recent: 8 years 10 months (5 years 9 months if one counts only managing directors)
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 1/11 = 9.09% [Hawke government followed by appointment of Geoffrey Whitehead]
Finland
List of Directors-General of Finnish PSB YLE [from Wikipedia]:
Average tenure of DG, excluding most recent: 8 years 6 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 3/35 = 8.57% (counting changes of Prime Minister; Kekkonen (I), Virolainen, Koivisto (II) governments followed by changes); 1/6 = 16.67% (counting changes of President; Ahtisaari presidency followed by appointment of Wessberg).
Denmark
List of Directors-General of Danmarks Radio [from
DR website]
- Hans Juul Sølvhøj 1961 - 1964
- Erik Carlsen 1964 - 1967
- Hans Juul Sølvhøj 1967 - 1976
- Laurits Bindsløv 1976 - 1985
- Hans Jørgen Jensen 1985 - 1994
- Christian Nissen 1994 - 2004
- Kenneth Plummer 2005 -
Average tenure of DG, excluding most recent: 7 years 2 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 0.
United Kingdom
BBC Directors-General (post-war period only):
Average tenure of DGs, excluding most recent: 6 years 8 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 0.
Canada
Presidents of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, post-war period only:
Average tenure of Presidents, excluding most recent: 5 years, 4 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 3/13 = 23.07% (Diefenbaker, Trudeau (I) and Chrétien governments followed by changes).
Austria
List of Directors-General of Austrian PSB ORF [from Wikipedia]:
Average tenure of DG, excluding most recent: 5 years 1 month.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 1/7 = 14.28% (Vranitzky government followed by appointment of Podgorski).
Japan
NHK Presidents [Kaicho], post-Occupation period only [from Wikipedia, Ellis Krauss'
Broadcasting Politics in Japan]:
- 高野岩三郎 1946年4月26日～1949年4月5日; completed a three year term before introduction of the 1950 Broadcasting Act
- 古垣鐵郎 1949年5月30日～1956年6月13日; two three-year terms; prolonged slightly by passage of the 1950 Act
- 永田清 1956年6月13日～1957年11月3日; Kiyoshi died in office
- 野村秀雄 1958年1月14日～1960年10月17日; Nomura appointed late after LDP factional disagreement
- 阿部眞之助 1960年10月17日～1964年7月9日;
- 前田義徳 1964年7月17日～1973年7月16日; three-term President, Maeda resigned after patron Satō died
- 小野吉郎 1973年7月17日～1976年9月4日; resigned two months into a second three year term
- 坂本朝一 1976年9月21日～1982年7月2日; two quiet three-year terms
- 川原正人 1982年7月3日～1988年7月2日; two three year terms
- 池田芳蔵 1988年7月3日～1989年4月4日; Ikeda resigned on grounds off ill-health
- 島桂次 1989年4月12日～1991年7月16日; Shima resigned after annoying certain LDP factions
- 川口幹夫 1991年7月31日～1997年7月30日; two quiet three year terms
- 海老沢勝二 1997年7月31日～2005年1月25日; resigned after corruption scandals
- 橋本元一 2005年1月25日～現在
Average tenure of Presidents, excluding most recent: 4 years, 6 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 1/29 = 3.44% (Ikeda government followed by appointment of Shinosuke Abe).
Average percentage of tenure completed: 87.78%
Italy
Directors-General of RAI:
| Salvino Sernesi | 1949 | 1953 |
| Giovan Battista Vicentini | 1954 | 1955 |
| Rodolfo Arata | (June) 1956 | 1960 |
| Ettore Bernabei | January 5, 1961 | September 18, 1974 |
| Michele Principe | May 23, 1975 | January 25, 1977 |
| Giuseppe Glisenti | January 26, 1977 | June 17, 1977 |
| Pierantonino Bertè | July 12, 1977 | June 18, 1980 |
| Villy De Luca | June 19, 1980 | July 21, 1982 |
| Biagio Agnes | July 29, 1982 | February 1, 1990 |
| Gianni Pasquarelli | February 5, 1990 | July 23, 1993 |
| Gianni Locatelli | July 23, 1993 | August 3, 1994 |
| Gianni Billia | August 3, 1994 | December 31, 1994 |
| Raffaele Minicucci | January 16, 1995 | February 29, 1996 |
| Aldo Materia [1] | March 6, 1996 | July 15, 1996 |
| Franco Iseppi | July 15, 1996 | February 8, 1998 |
| Pier Luigi Celli | February 9, 1998 | February 17, 2000 |
| Pier Luigi Celli [2] | February 17, 2000 | February 9, 2001 |
| Claudio Cappon | February 9, 2001 | March 19, 2002 |
| Agostino Saccà | March 19, 2002 | March 27, 2003 |
| Flavio Cattaneo | March 27, 2003 | August 5, 2005 |
| Alfredo Meocci | August 5, 2005 | June 20, 2006 |
| Claudio Cappon | June 22, 2006 | present |
Average tenure of Directors-General, excluding most recent: 2 years 10 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 8/36 = 22.22% (Fanfani (I), Fanfani (III), Moro (II), Andreotti (II), Andreotti (III), Ciampi, Berlusconi (I), Prodi (I), Prodi (II) governments followed by changes).
Poland
Presidents of Telewizja Polska (PTV):
- Wiesław Walendziak (Jan 1994 - Apr 1996)
- Ryszard Miazek (Apr 1996 - June 1998)
- Robert Kwiatkowski (July 1998 - Jan 2004)
- Jan Dworak (Feb 2004 - May 2006)
- Bronislaw Wildstein (May 2006 - )
Average tenure of Presidents, excluding most recent: 2 years 10 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 2/9 = 22.22% (Pawlak (II), Cimoszewicz governments followed by changes).
France
Presidents of France Télévisions (and before, joint presidents of France 2 and France 3, and Presidents of ORTF):
Average tenure of President/DG of major public channel/group, excluding most recent: 2 years 6 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 5/16 = 31.25% (Messmer, Chirac (I), Mauroy, Bérégovoy, de Villepin governments followed by changes).
Czech Republic
Česká televize, Directors-General:
Average tenure of Directors-General, excluding most recent: 1 year 11 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 2/7 = 28.57% (Tosovsky', Spidla governments followed by changes).
Hungary
Magyar Televizio, Presidents [from
EUMAP]
- István Nemeskürty (January–April 1990),
- Albert Szalacsi Tóth (April–August 1990),
- Elemér Hankiss (August 1990–January 1993),
- Gábor Nahlik (January 1993–July 1994),
- Tibor Szilárd (July 1994),
- Ádám Horváth (July 1994–December 1995),
- Ferenc Székely (January–September 1996),
- István Peták (October 1996–January 1998),
- Lóránt Horvát (January 1998–May 1999),
- Zsolt Szabó László (May 1999–July 2001),
- Károly Mendreczky (July 2001–July 2002),
- Imre Ragáts (July 2002–December 2003),
- György Pinke (January 2004–February 2004),
- Zoltán Rudi (March 2004–
Average tenure of Presidents, excluding most recent: 1 year
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 4/6 = 66.67% (Antall, Boross, Horn, Medgyessy governments followed by changes).
Spain
Directors-General of RTVE:
- Fernando Castedo (Jan '81 to Oct '81)
- Carlos Robles (Oct '81 to July '82)
- Eugenio Nasarre (Jul '82 to Dec '82)
- Jose-Maria Calvino (Dec '82 to Oct '86);
- Pilar Miro (Oct '86 to Jan '89);
- Luis Solana (Jan '89 to Feb '90);
- Jordi Garcia (Feb '90 to May '96)
- Mónica Ridruejo (May '96 to Feb '97)
- Fernando López-Amor (Feb '97 to Nov '98)
- Pío Cabanillas (Nov '98 to May '00);
- Javier González (May '00 to July '02)
- José Antonio Sánchez Domínguez (July '02 to April '04);
- Carmen Caffarel (April 2004 onwards)
Average tenure of DG, excluding most recent: 11 months.
Cukierman political vulnerability index: 4 / 5 = 80% (all government changes since Suárez followed by changes, except change in 1993 between majority and minority PSOE governments).
