Delivering Quality First

The BBC document Delivering Quality First (October 2011) comes only a year and a half after its Strategy Review, titled Putting Quality First (March 2010). That Review was presented as a response to a 'challenge' from the BBC Trust asking if the Corporation’s "focus [could] be narrowed and its scale reduced". The Director General had responded, “The BBC should not attempt to do everything. It must listen to legitimate concerns from commercial media players more carefully than it has in the past and act sooner to meet them". The BBC must 'define its boundaries' and 'know its limits'.The Trust promised to make its final decisions in the light of the public response, and, indeed two threatened services, Six Music and the Asian Network, were reprieved.

In its response to the Strategy Review, the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom along with many others without a commercial axe to grind - civic organisations, academics, trade unions and individual viewers and listeners - argued that the BBC should be celebrating its strengths rather than meekly accepting the arguments of its detractors. It should be arguing strenuously that the Corporation should maintain the breadth of its output, and should expand its scope with the move to digital and multi-platform formats.

Instead the Director General came to an agreement with the Secretary of State, which led to the freezing of the licence fee until March 2017 and to the BBC taking on a range of extra commitments, including responsibility for the World Service and for S4C. Responsibilities such as rolling out broadband and supporting local television initiatives relate to public policy and should be funded by general taxation, not by the licence fee payer. These changes will inevitably lead to draconian cuts across the board and to what the DG described as the 'most far-reaching transformation in our history' (DQF p.11). “By 2016, the BBC will be significantly smaller than it is today; employing fewer people; occupying far less space; and spending less money both absolutely and as a proportion of  the UK broadcasting industry".

Although inviting public consultation, the document presents this as a done deal. The Chairman's introduction warns that 'to do nothing is not an option'. This is despite the judgement of audiences, quoted in the report itself. Each week 96% of the public uses the BBC: 74% have a positive impression of BBC: and appreciation scores are 82 out of 100. (DQF para 4.3).

The CPBF deplores the stance taken by the Management and the Trust, and urges the BBC to re-negotiate the licence fee settlement.   As we argued in our response to the Strategy Review, commercial companies tend to celebrate their strengths rather than apologise for them.  The BBC should do the same.

Download the CPBF's full response here. [Word]