Alan Protheroe CBE (10 January 1934 – 6 April 2013) was a BBC executive who served as assistant Director-General in the 1980s.[1] In 1987, he went on to run the Services Sound and Vision Corporation, now BFBS, providing radio and television services to the British Armed Forces.[2]
During his tenure overseeing BBC News, Protheroe is credited with fighting for "old-fashioned hard news values",[3] including promoting well respected journalists (such as John Humphries) into newsreader positions for the first time at the BBC.[4] Protheroe continued to serve in the Territorial Army throughout his time at the BBC and was promoted to full colonel in 1984. In 1980 he was awarded a military MBE and appointed CBE (military) in 1991.[5]