Minister sees strengths in BBC critics eyed for top UK media jobs

The Andrew Marr Show in London

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's culture minister said on Sunday that two prominent critics of the BBC who have reportedly been offered important roles in the British media had "strengths".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked Charles Moore, a former editor of the Daily Telegraph, to become the chairman of the BBC and wants Paul Dacre, a former editor of the Daily Mail, to be chairman of media regulator Ofcom, according to The Sunday Times.

Culture minister Oliver Dowden said the process for the appointment of both roles would be launched soon and that the government was seeking "strong, credible" people and a chair of the BBC who could hold it to account.

"There are strengths to both Charles Moore and to Paul Dacre," he told Sky News.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Reporting by Andrew Heavens)