The BBC’s director of global news, Richard Sambrook, has rubbished a diary item in the London Evening Standard claiming he was being lined up to replace Nigel Chapman as director of the World Service.
Chapman announced last month that he was stepping down after 31 years at the corporation to run a children’s charity. The Standard claimed on Friday that Sambrook would be parachuted into the role.
Writing on his blog this weekend, Sambrook replied: “I’m not a candidate for the job, because it reports to me and I will be deciding who gets it.
“A simple phone call by the Standard could have established that, although I recognise how inconvenient the facts can be when they knock down a story on a quiet Friday.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
