Tony Hall talks to staff about a 'momentous year' for the BBC

Earlier today Tony Hall spoke to BBC staff in the Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House, thanking staff for a great year of BBC output. He also outlined some of the BBC activities in the next 18 months, encouraging staff to help make the argument for the future of the organisation.

Tony began by thanking staff for a great year of BBC programming, a year when the organisation has been at the top of its game creatively – and looked ahead to a "momentous year".

Talking to staff congregating in the Radio Theatre, Tony warned that this year was a moment of "high risk" - most importantly the public who use its services, with a very real danger that the BBC could be "diminished" or "stuck in an analogue cul-de-sac, without the freedom to reinvent itself and public service broadcasting."

But there was also a "great possibility" for the organisation to make itself strong and confident – "A BBC ready to keep advancing in the digital age … Doing so is vital if the BBC is to continue making the programmes and providing the services the public love."

On the subject of charter renewal, Tony was emphatic.

"... there may be some – I hope only a few – who try to use the impending Charter Review to influence our coverage of politics in this most sensitive of political years. We will never let that happen, because to do so would betray the public and the ideals of the BBC," adding that, "impartiality will guide everything we do, and we will report without fear or favour. We will get things wrong – it's inevitable – and we will reflect and put things right where we have. But we will never confuse justifiable complaints with naked bullying."

He went further, "There will be others who just want to join in a vital debate about public broadcasting with ideas for change and reform. I want them to know that we will listen and learn and reflect on what we hear. Our confidence will never be arrogance, our pride will never be complacency, our determination will never be defensiveness."

"We live at a time of unparalleled change in media. Never have audiences changed so fast, or global competition changed our environment so radically.That makes this Charter Review matter much more than most: we face big choices about the future of public service broadcasting and the BBC. But I am confident that at the end of the process we will emerge stronger, re-energised and with our best days ahead of us."