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| The British Broadcasting Corporation. Picture: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk |
Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has unveiled
the White Paper, a document that sets out a new regime for the BBC in his plans
for the next 11 years, while highlighting the importance of the broadcaster as
a national asset that informs, educates and entertains the British public.
The authoritative
report has arrived just a week ago, after a difficult time due to attacks
from media groups and politicians opposed to the BBC’s size and structure.
The British
Broadcasting Corporation has also faced a threat at the hands of the Government
that wanted to cut the BBC down to size and challenging its scope, while
forcing it to take on responsibility for a welfare benefit.
According to the
NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, despite the fantastic public
response to the consultation on the future of the broadcaster, the game was lost before it had even begun by the BBC agreeing to a
deal with George Osborne to fund the licence fees of the over-75s, which could
diminish the scale of the BBC by 20 per cent.
In the light of these
events, in 2015 the broadcaster declared its intention of making cuts of £150
million with the news budget facing a reduction of 5 million, not to mention a
fall of £12 million on online services.
Being the National
Union of Journalists (NUJ) in strong disagreement with the announcement, it
decided to support the BBC by launching the NUJ’s Love it or Lose it campaign and protesting against the broadcaster’s
charter renewal.
The Union has been
stressing since the beginning its plan to defend the British Broadcasting Corporation,
which is both the largest single investor in TV news and the biggest
commissioner of new music worldwide, as excellent value. In fact, it offers
four TV channels, ten national radio stations and a network of local radio
stations, not to mention BBC monitoring, BBC Parliament and its well-known
website. The list goes on and the whole package only costs 40p a day.
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| Slimming Auntie BBC. Image: www.economist.com |
Will the recently published White Paper actually allow the BBC to be more open and
creative than ever, while bearing the British values?
Reports confirm
that the BBC bosses are still concerned about the make-up of the proposed
board, as the Government may interfere with the corporation’s running,
therefore undermining its independence.
Lord Hall, the
director-general of the oldest national broadcasting system in the world, is
now expected to work hard to make sure Auntie BBC will not be turned into a state
broadcaster.
