Winning a Voice for licence fee payers

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The BBC should be more democratic and responsive to the citizens it serves, CPBF members agreed at a special seminar organised by the CPBF and NUJ in London on 8 September.

The CPBF along with other media groups has often called for the democratisation of the governing body of the BBC. The lead-up period to Charter Renewal is the time to spell out just what we mean. In their manifesto published at the beginning of July, the BBC pledged more accountability and dtransparency.It talked of governance reforms, the creation of a new ‘governance unit ’ to provide expertise to the board, butvery little mention of the need to introduce democracy into the way the governors are appointed. The 8 September meeting considered a proposal that the Board of Governors, which failed the BBC so lamentably during the crisis that followed the publication of the Hutton Report in January, should be elected by the licence free payers. At present the government appoints its twelve members. The proposal came from Professor Sylvia Harvey of Lincoln University, an expert in the governance of the BBC. In a submission to the government's review of the BBC Charter, in the run-up to the renewal of the charter due in 2006, she proposes a ballot every three years by all licence-fee payers. There would be a new independent BBC Council that would oversee the process. Licence fee payers, she said, were effectively shareholders of the BBC and should elect the board in the same way as happens in public companies. The BBC should continue to be funded by the licence fee, and its level should be set, not as at present by government, but by the BBC Council. Sylvia Harvey said: "The old principle must apply: no taxation without representation." As representatives of the public, the governors' responsibilities would not be to run the BBC but to defend it as a public service. During the Hutton crisis, the Board of Governors came under widespread criticism over its conflicting roles. It was expected to supervise the corporation's management, to deal with complaints, and to defend the BBC from attack. As Downing Street stepped up its criticisms of the reporting of the run-up to the war, the conflicts became impossible to deal with and the governors went into a panic and, after blindly resisting, caved in to government pressure. The CPBF has for a long time recognised that changes in the powers of the governors are needed and that there should be a radical overhaul of the structures of accountability within broadcasting. A full transcription of the event is being prepared for the site.

DATELINE: 24 January, 2010

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