The BBC should fire or punish staff over poor programme standards rather than face fines, chairman Gavyn Davies has said.

The BBC governors would fire editors and journalists who are responsible for major breaches of guidelines, Mr Davies said at an industry conference.

Firing the people is a much better remedy than fining the public

Gavyn Davies

Luke Crawley, a senior official for the BBC branch of the broadcasting union Bectu, described Mr Davies' comments as "odd".

"It suggests a heavy-handed way of dealing with programme-making, and goes counter to the creative atmosphere at the BBC," he said.

A spokesman for the National Union of Journalists said firing people should be a last resort.

The BBC argues that this direct action is better than forcing it to accept fines from the new industry regulator, Ofcom.

The chairman...was referring to the very rare cases where the most flagrant breaches of standards occur

BBC spokesman

"Firing the people is a much better remedy than fining the public," Mr Davies told the Radio Festival in Cambridge on Tuesday.

He told an audience of industry executives that a fine would only penalise licence fee payers.

He also said the governors could even ultimately fire director general Greg Dyke.

Deliberate

But a BBC spokesman said on Wednesday that staff would only be sacked in the most extreme circumstances.

They would have to be flagrant and deliberate breaches of regulations, and producers or editors would not be fired solely for letting guests swear on air or making programmes that attracted complaints.

"The chairman in his remarks yesterday was referring to the very rare cases where the most flagrant breaches of standards occur," the spokesman said.

"We believe the public would expect the governors of the BBC to make sure that the proper action is taken when there are breaches, but this doesn't always mean dismissal."

'Odd'

He rejected the suggestion that creative producers could be sacked for taking risks in innovative programmes that were not successful.

But the BBC has sacked staff for breaking rules in the past - including one journalist who was dismissed for making up research.

The BBC's standards are not expected to come under the control of new over-arching media regulator Ofcom, which is to be established by the new Communications Bill.

But many MPs and some media figures would like to see Ofcom have total regulatory control over the BBC as well as other broadcasters because they say it can currently make up its own rules.