Richard James Ayre was a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation until its abolition in 2016.
He is a former member for England of the Ofcom Content Board and chair of its Broadcast Review Committee. He was formerly a BBC journalist, first as a radio and television reporter in Belfast through the 1970s, before becoming the Home News Editor in London (1979–84), Head of BBC Westminster (1989–93), Controller of Editorial Policy (1993–96) and Deputy Chief Executive of BBC News (1996–2000).
In retirement he has broadcast from time to time on media issues, and conducted interviews as part of the BBC Oral Archive project. He is a trustee of the Egyptian Exploration Society, the charity which has sponsored archaeological excavations and research in Egypt for the past 140 years. In April 2022 he was appointed chair of the board of independent press regulator IMPRESS. He is married to the artist Guy Burch.
