“Pretty thunderous” is how one BBC journalist describes the climate within the corporation’s news division as it grapples with its latest crisis – the row over the Gaza documentary which the BBC board has acknowledged had “serious flaws” in its commissioning and production. Samir Shah, the chairman, described it as a “dagger to the heart” of BBC impartiality. The mood was not improved by a disappointing night for BBC News on Wednesday at the Royal Television Society’s journalism awards, when the most coveted trophies went to ITV, Channel 4 and Sky News.

Having served as a senior executive at the BBC for more than two decades, including a five-year stint as head of television news, I know it is never a quiet life in the corporation’s newsroom and staff dissent is nothing new either. But it is a simple truth that the quality of its news and current affairs will determine whether the BBC thrives or withers in a digital age. It is striking how many former executives and media industry observers are fearful about its current direction. A large number of those see, in the recent departure of presenter Mishal Husain, another symbol of corporate carelessness. One former editor, who rates Husain highly, likens her to “a dead canary down the mine”, saying that her decision to leave the BBC after two decades plays into his view that “BBC News has lost its intellectual compass”.