Keep broadcasting public - Brendan Barber

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Posted by Brendan Barber

Welcome to this conference, which brings together trade unionists, academics and campaigners in support of public service broadcasting.

We meet at a time when the future of the BBC is under intense scrutiny.

Last month saw the long-awaited publication of the White Paper on the BBC and there can be no doubt that over the coming months there will be an intense debate on the many issues it raises.

There can be no doubt either that the voice of the commercial rivals will be heard loud and clear.

Today we have the opportunity to make our initial contribution to the debate and hopefully give some balance to the discussions.

We are fortunate to have with us two of the leading figures in the debate:

James Purnell is the Minister for Creative Industries and Tourism, and, as such, the minister responsible for broadcasting policy.

Caroline Thomson is Director of Strategy at the BBC and has lead responsibility within the Corporation for Charter Renewal.

We will hear from both of them shortly.

But first a word about the organisers of today ‘s event.

This conference has been put together by three groups. They are: -

the Federation of Entertainment Unions, who represent workers in the BBC as well as those in production companies and in other sectors of broadcasting;

the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, which began life in the late 1970s as the Campaign for Press Freedom but soon extended its remit to cover broadcasting. The CPBF is known as a strong defender of the public service ethos.

And the TUC, which, I think, uniquely is able to speak both on behalf of those who work in broadcasting and also on behalf of our six and a half million members and their families who between them represent a sizeable proportion of the BBC’s audiences.

And so, by way of starting the discussion, let me say a few words about how the TUC sees the key issues at this time.

What is clear is that the pace of change in broadcasting is increasingly out of all proportion to what has gone before.

It took decades to move from radio to television.

Years to move from monopoly to duopoly.

BBC 2 and colour were major advances and then we saw Channels 4 and 5 and more recently satellite.

But I don’t think anything that has gone before has prepared us for the digital age with literally hundreds of channels.

We now have the option to download programme at a time of our chosing; we have  podcasts and before too long the question ‘What on television tonight?’ will  be answered by ‘Whatever you want to be on … or maybe even – what’s television?

The challenge for all of us, then, is to preserve and develop the best qualities in public service broadcasting within this new age.

The TUC has long been a keen, if critical, supporter of the BBC.

In recent years our Congress has regularly carried motions committing us to campaign in support of the BBC and Charter Renewal.

There are many qualities about the BBC that we admire.

Among the most important is the crucial role that the BBC plays through its impartial news coverage.

We might have questioned that impartiality from time to time on specific issues and we know that the Government has been as critical as anyone, on certain occasions.

But you need only look at the increasingly opinion-dominated press and some overseas broadcasters, such as the Fox network, to see what we would face in Britain without the BBC to set the standards.

Now, in news, as in other areas, we are seeing greater and greater fragmentation.

There are now more opportunities for individuals and groups to have access to the airwaves and the BBC deserves praise for its pioneering work – such as the Building Public Participation Exercise, the ‘Making It’ project and the Schools News Day, which is coming next year. But the issue that needs to be addressed is: ‘How do you retain impartiality within this new environment and in a society where there are fewer shared values?’

But the BBC is about more than news. We also value the BBC’s role as the nation’s number one entertainer.

And we endorse Tessa Jowell’s memorable injunction for the BBC to ‘take fun seriously’.

The White Paper makes clear that the BBC should continue to bring us popular programmes that draw together our increasingly diverse nations and regions.

And it should also continue to provide high quality and challenging programmes that allow creative talents to flourish.

But, as I see it, the White Paper is asking the BBC to walk a tight rope.

If its programmes are too successful it will be charged with taking the bread from the private sector’s mouth.

And if it they fail to draw the audiences then the BBC will be charged with wasting the licence payers’ money.

Getting it right will require balancing skills of the highest order.

And as the critics gather, as they surely will, our fear is that the BBC might be too ready to appease them and in doing so will destroy the very values which have won it the respect which is acknowledged in the White Paper.

We think that the job cuts and the resulting effect on staff morale over the past year have done a lot of damage and we fear more to come.

We have no doubt that the independent production companies have a role to play in the future of broadcasting, but we fear that more and more work will go to the big indies and that as the BBC loses the economies of scale the essentials, like training, will suffer.

The debate over the licence fee settlement is still to come. But the battle lines are clear.

The press, with some support from the public, will seek to portray the BBC as spendthrift.

Those of us who back the BBC need to be ready to speak up in defence of a licence fee settlement that enables the BBC to do what we as viewers and listeners want the BBC to do.

We will also speak out against the backdoor reductions through top slicing of the licence fee.

It would be a big step back if the BBC again became the sole public service broadcaster. But using the licence fee to finance other public services is not the answer.

Finally there is the issue of governance. The proposals in the White Paper offer a step forward.

There will be greater clarity.

And the BBC should be better able to cope with next Hutton or the next Jerry Springer.

But membership of the new bodies will be important and it is important that the voice of working people, those who work for the BBC and those of us who look to the BBC for our information and our entertainment are heard within that system of governance.

Those then are my initial reflections on some of issues that we will be discussing today.

I am now going to invite DCMS minister James Purnell to give you the official view of the White Paper.

James has been MP for Stalybridge and Hyde since 2001.  He started his career as researcher for Labour’s Employment Spokesman, who at that time was one Tony Blair. Since then he has specialised in media and communications policy, with the IPPR and then as Head of Corporate Planning at the BBC, before going on work as the Prime Minister’s special adviser on culture media and sport between 1997 and 2001.

James

(James Purnell then spoke)

Our second speaker this morning is Caroline Thomson, Director of Strategy at the BBC.

In addition to Charter Review, Caroline has responsibility for strategic analysis and planning and for the distribution of BBC services and is particularly involved in the development of the BBC's digital strategy and switchover.

She has worked in broadcasting for nearly 30 years, joining the BBC as a journalist trainee in 1975 and going on to produce a range of BBC radio and television series including Analysis and Panorama.

She worked for Channel 4 from 1984 until 1995, first as Commissioning Editor, Science, Finance and Industry, and later as Head of Corporate Affairs.

She joined the BBC World Service in 1995 as Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs and was appointed as Deputy Managing Director the following year.

Caroline.

(Caroline Thomson then spoke)

DATELINE: 25 January, 2010

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