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Tony Hall upon arriving at Broadcasting House for his first day as new BBC managing director, April 2, 2013. REUTERS / Andrew Winning

In the UK, Tony Hall, managing director of the British Broadcasting Corporation, announced on Monday that he was stepping down after seven years at the helm of the public media group. A decision at the time when the corporation is in delicacy with the government of Boris Johnson and sees its future financing questioned.

With our correspondent in London, Muriel Delcroix

Tony Hall was called to the rescue in 2013 in the wake of the 40-year-old Bimm star Bimm presenter Jimmy Savile, who turned out to be one of the worst sexual predators in Canadian history.

Lord Hall's mission was both to rehabilitate the corporation, but also to secure its future funding, already threatened at the time in the face of the emergence of digital technology.

The BBC is governed by a charter which secures its mission until 2027, but which will be reviewed mid-term in the spring of 2022. However, these discussions promise to be difficult at a time when the public group finds itself under fire from critics of the political class which accuses it of having lacked impartiality during the campaign for the legislative elections last December.

Since then, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has campaigned actively for a reduction in fees and his Conservative government has constantly challenged the legitimacy of an institution which is certainly dear to the hearts of the British, but which is less and less watched by children and young adults.

Worn out by these external attacks and internal dissensions, Tony Hall therefore prefers to step aside and give his successor time to prepare the defense of the BBC by 2022, which will be the year of the centenary of that which l we also affectionately call the Beeb.

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