Spotlight 08 Informed


supporting the journalism of more than 220 media organisations across the UK and 74% of UK adults use BBC News once per week – making it the UK’s most widely used and trusted outlet. Te BBC’s corporate focus and


Te future of public service broadcasting


Tara Conlan on the outlook for public service broadcasting across the UK and Ireland.


With President Trump suing the BBC, the corporation having to find a new director general plus a new head of news, and Comcast bidding for ITV, UK public service broadcasting is entering an unnerving time. Te ecology of the public service


broadcasters (PSBs) will be most profoundly hit if Trump succeeds in his $5billion lawsuit over the mis-editing of a Panorama documentary featuring a speech he made on 6 January 2021. Te BBC Group’s revenue for 2024/25 was £5.9 billion.


Te knock-on effect on journalism and UK independent production companies who rely on the BBC could be extremely chilling. Te Local News Partnership is


resources are being diverted at a time when it should be focusing on Charter Renewal, following the government’s publication of a green paper about the future of the BBC - alongside finding a successor for Tim Davie and Deborah Turness following their resignations. With the whole affair puting the issue of impartiality and the BBC board in the spotlight - in particular BBC England member and former director of communications for Teresa May and ex-adviser to GB News, Robbie Gibb – the NUJ has called for worker representation and independent appointments to the board. Te union has also said there should be sustainable funding for the BBC to safeguard public service journalism and quality news provision across the nations, locally and globally - and defended the professional integrity of its members at the corporation. Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said: “Te BBC has acknowledged that the Panorama edit of President Trump’s speech was an error of judgment and has apologised. Where errors of judgment or mistakes are acknowledged there should be a proportionate response and we are concerned at the tone and tenor of much of the public discourse [...] Te focus now must be the future of the BBC. “Mistakes are more likely where journalists are overstretched and journalism is underfunded. Successive government budget cuts have undermined the BBC’s core news output – across its regions, national news and World Service.” Davison said that the Charter Renewal


process, which was launched on 16 December, “offers an opportunity to give the BBC the resources it needs to deliver high quality public service journalism, free from political interference.”


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