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Time to save the BBC
The future of the BBC is up for grabs - the time to act is now!
DATELINE: 13/4/06
A leaflet from the NUJ is being distributed to chapels and branches asking them to respond to the white paper on the future of the BBC. It is also being distributed by email to several thousand people and will be put on the NUJ website. NUJ General Secretary, Jeremy Dear, asks people to distribute it as widely as possible. "Time is of the essence," says Dear. The deadline for responding to the White Paper is 28 April, 2006 - just two weeks away. The NUJ document provides a background briefing on the White paper which may help you with your own response. Read it here...
In early March, the government finally published its White Paper on the Future of the BBC, allowing only a short time for public responses and for the enactment of legislation so that a new 10-year BBC Royal Charter is in place at the start of 2007.
The government has set Friday April 28th as the deadline for public responses, so we urge our members to act quickly. The BBC's commercial rivals are certain to continue applying pressure on the government to reverse positive aspects of the White Paper, so it's vital our voices are loudly heard!
Please use this Briefing as the basis for your own comments.
The NUJ welcomes the broad framework: renewal of the Charter under which the BBC operates for a full 10 years; maintaining the licence fee as the funding mechanism throughout this period; and for the BBC to be governed by an independent Trust and not by the commercially minded regulator, Ofcom. That these positive aspects of the last year's Green Paper have been preserved is a tribute to the campaigning work done by our union, together with our trade union and media freedom allies.
That said, there are serious flaws and dangers in the White Paper.
The most worrying is the granting of even greater powers to the regulator Ofcom than envisaged in the Green Paper. Ofcom will be central to the 'market-testing' of all proposed new BBC services (or even changes to services), deciding whether these will be 'unfair' to commercial rivals. In the fast-changing worlds of digital broadcasting and online services, this is likely to block the BBC's ability to develop, thus allowing the commercial sector alone to enter new areas.
The distinct possibility of fragmenting (or 'top-slicing') the licence fee, with some of it being used to support Channel 4 (the NUJ supports public funding for this Channel, but not through the licence fee).
The encouragement given to the BBC to open up to 50 per cent of its TV production to outside bids - a move that could fatally weaken the BBC's creative production base while imperilling the high standards associated with the BBC in areas such as in-house training and equal opportunities.
The encouragement given to the BBC to make further cuts in jobs and services ('efficiencies') and to World Service to consider further drastic cuts to its language services.
Expecting the BBC to fund the cost of the switch-over from analogue to digital television, even though this is government policy (to achieve it by 2012) and will also benefit the commercial sector and the Treasury (through the selling off of the analogue spectrum). We believe these other sectors must be asked to share the costs of this change with the BBC.
The NUJ believes that a healthy media in the UK depends on the BBC continuing as strong and independent, and at the heart of public service broadcasting. The government has begun a detailed review of what the licence fee level should be from April 2007. We believe it is vital the BBC gets a proper licence fee settlement, that this should be above RPI. Certainly the BBC's request for a settlement of 2.3% above RPI is realistic if the Corporation is to lead the digital switch-over. But we repeat that, even if this is the case, costs should be shared - and the BBC must be protected from a spiralling of unforeseen costs as digital television is rolled out across the UK by 2012.
The government has committed itself to a licence-fee review mid-way through the next Charter. This must not be used as a pretext to begin fragmenting (or 'top-slicing') the licence fee! We believe the case for the licence fee is overwhelming, and must remain the funding method for the BBC. The current licence fee costs no more than the cheapest (and basic) BSkyB package; it is cheaper than the cost of a daily broadsheet newspaper. And yet what you receive through the licence fee is two terrestrial TV channels, the BBC's full range of digital TV channels (most people now receive these), and the full range of BBC radio channels and online services. What a bargain!
Finally, the NUJ believes the new governing Trust must not be dominated by private-sector industry specialists. We think it is vital that there be listener and viewer representation on the Board, with regional and national interests represented. Above all, the Board should include representatives of those working in broadcasting, through the trade union movement.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD ON THE BBC'S FUTURE!
RESPOND TO THE WHITE PAPER BY SENDING IN YOUR COMMENTS BY FRIDAY 28TH APRIL TO:
BY EMAIL: bbccharterreview@culture.gsi.gov.uk
BY POST: BBC Charter Review Consultation,
Department for Culture, Media and Sport,
2-4 Cockspur Street,
LONDON SW1Y 5DH.
The Licence Fee remains fantastic value
LINKSBBC white Paper leaflet from the NUJ (PDF format)
Last modified: Thursday, April 13, 2006
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Public Service Broadcasting
Yes to quality – No to digital surcharge
White Paper Weakens BBC’s Independence
Register now for Keep Broadcasting Public
White Paper leaks
What should be the BBC’s priorities?
Purnell to address campaign’s ‘Keep Broadcasting Public’ conference
‘Keep Broadcasting Public’ Conference: Minister to present new BBC Charter
BBC White Paper: Why The Delay?
Lords back licence fee
KEEP BROADCASTING PUBLIC
Lords Back Licence Fee
Conference to press for stronger BBC
Pressure on the BBC
White Paper delayed
Digital TV campaign and the Midlands MPs
Lords slam Government's charter plans
Campaign rejects call for licence-fee to fund digital switch-over
Keep Broadcasting Public - revised and updated
Jowell confirms digital switchover timetable
Happy fiftieth for ITV?
BBC governance proposals are non-negotiable
Switch to digital threatens Public Service
NUJ calls on BBC bosses to give back bonuses
The BBC After The Strike
Robin Aitkin and the biased BBC
NEWS FROM THE USA: Inspiring Conference
CPBF Response to Green Paper
MAKE THE MEDIA AN ELECTION ISSUE
BBC Cuts
PLATFORM - Replacing the BBC Licence Fee
