on media Raymond Snoddy fears for the BBC’s future independence


The battle to protect the BBC must continue


I


t may look to the casual eye that the BBC has got a decent deal out of the royal charter debate in very difficult


political circumstances. After all, some of the madder ideas of culture secretary John Whittingdale have been quietly ushered away. The BBC will be able to show popular programmes at prime time on Saturday nights even though they sometimes beat ITV in the ratings, although they will have to be “distinctive” – whatever that means. Whittingdale’s strange notion that the BBC should desist from running its main evening news bulletin at 10pm against ITV – even though it was ITV that initially vacated its traditional slot – was laughed out of existence. Why, BBC executives will even be


in a majority on the new all powerful unitary board, which will be chaired until 2018 by Rona Fairhead, who knows the ways of the corporation as the third and last chair of the BBC Trust. The big ticket items appear even more positive for the BBC. The royal charter will last for 11 years and the BBC will continue to be funded by a licence fee that will rise in line with inflation. Surely that counts as a result in the face of the most right wing Conservative government since Mrs Thatcher and the most free market culture secretary of them all? It would have been much worse if the BBC top brass had been unable to bypass Whittingdale and make its case directly to the prime minister. A lot of people are still going to lose their jobs as a result of what the BBC director-general Lord Tony Hall described as “reasonable” deal.


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As rivals and potential rivals from Sky and Amazon to Google and Netflix have got larger, the BBC has been diminished at the hands of politicians in two large bites. More than £1 billion will have moved out of the BBC’s


finances – first the extra services it now has to fund directl , then picy, then picking up the bill for free licences for the over 75s. A pattern of greater interference and potential governmen


extra services it no nces for the ov terference and ental control is all


too apparent. Can the BBC really be seen as independent when the gov can appoint the chair


ty ch


and the non-executives from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England? They will provide a po erful spine for the board, which will be responsible for the entire running of the corporation, including including its journalism. Future conflicts between BBC execu


ti es from Scotland, eland and England? e a pow


d, w e en


non-executive appointees are almost guaranteed.


They should be chosen through a process independent of the government to guaran not only the BBC’s


d. chosen


e arantee


For the latest updates from Raymond Snoddy on Twitterter go to @raymondsnoddy


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theJournalist | 21


independence but also the perception of that independence.


The traffic is one way. After more than 90 years, the BBC has lost all right to regulate its own affairs


e wa h


also hat


The traffic is one way.


After more than 90 years, the0 y BBC has lost all right to regulate fcom, and the fice will h


ances. W effecti accountants of the NA


its own affairs to Ofcom, and the National Audit Office will have a much more powerful role in supervising its finances. Will the NAO be free to


work out the cost-effectiveness of Strictly Come Dancing?cing?


It’s also not clear what the five-year review of the roy C’


r wh t the the royal


charter and the BBC’s performance


ure conflicts utives and the ointees are


the BBC really be seen en the government air, deputy chair


will entail. Some see it as a sword of Damocles hanging over the corporation. The BBC’s production base could also be undermined over time by the requirement that all programmes, apart from news and current affairs, should be open to competition. The only cheers come from a requirement that the BBC be more diverse in terms of gender and ethnic background in both its programming and staff, a move that is long overdue. It could have been much worse But


the battle should continue to protect the BBC from interfering tentacles of government and bureaucracy.


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