Career
He is a former member for England of the OFCOM Content Board and chair of its Broadcast Review Committee. He was formerly a journalist where he was Head of Westminster (1989-1993), Controller of Editorial Policy (1993-1996) and Deputy Chief Executive of News (1996–2000). Richard Ayre began his career as a reporter in Northern Ireland.
In 1988, the then Home Secretary Douglas Hurd banned Sinn Féin from the airwaves in response to Irish Republican Army bombing campaigns.
lieutenant was seen by many as extremely damaging to freedom of speech and the press in Britain. When Ayre became Controller of Editorial Policy he took legal advice and was satisfied that the prohibition could not stop the use of actors" voices to replace the more cumbersome use of subtitling.
This is credited as having rendered the prohibition increasingly ridiculous. He also re-wrote the "s Producer Guidelines into the most comprehensive manual of programme making ethics, which became a model for many broadcasters worldwide.
He established Britain"s first bi-media (television and radio) centre at Millbank, introducing the first digital editing to network journalism.
In 1995, Ayre played a key part in steering the Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales to air - a decision which infuriated the "s then Chairman Marmaduke Hussey. In March 2010, the government announced that Ayre would join the Trust - the governing body of the Corporation - replacing fellow journalist Richard Tait. He was Chair of Article 19 (2003-2005), and was Adjudicator for the Law Society (2001-2015).
He led OFCOM"s 2007 enquiry into abuse of premium rate telephone services in television programmes.
He conducted a review of broadcasting in Kuwait following the invasion by Iraq and following the allied invasion he chaired the Editorial Review Board for First Rate (at Lloyd's) Mirbad - the first independent Iraqi-run radio and television station.
