Word.ws English Dictionary

Birtism

Birtism proper noun: the broadcasting policies or approach associated with John Birt (born 1944), Director-General of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, such as restructuring for efficiency and the use of an explanatory style of reportage.

Proper noun

Birtism

  1. The broadcasting policies or approach associated with John Birt (born 1944), Director-General of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, such as restructuring for efficiency and the use of an explanatory style of reportage.
    • But Birtism is only one example of the larger issue of the application of 'Thatcherism' to the management of the public sector in general and to education in particular.1997, David Hellawell, Headteacher from Hell and Other Animals, page 61
    • At this time Dyke with his gregarious nature and empathy with creative and other staff was regarded within the BBC as a refreshing change from the rather Stalinist atmosphere of Birtism.2008, Ken Bloomfield, The BBC at the Watershed, page 148

Origin of Birtism

From Birt + -ism.

Questions about Birtism

What does Birtism mean?
Birtism means the broadcasting policies or approach associated with John Birt (born 1944), Director-General of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, such as restructuring for efficiency and the use of an explanatory style of reportage.
What part of speech is Birtism?
Birtism is a proper noun.

Words near Birtism in the dictionary

  1. birthwort
  2. birthworts
  3. birthy
  4. birthyear
  5. birthyears
  6. Birtism
  7. Birtley
  8. birts
  9. Birtspeak
  10. Birtwistle
  11. Birtwistles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Birtism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Birtism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/birtism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.