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| © Picture of Dr.Who and the Daleks courtesy NUJ and the rights holders. |
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Armando Iannucci, the award winning writer
behind 'The Thick of It' and 'Veep' has attacked government ministers
for trying to kill off the BBC and called on people to defend it against politicians and Rupert Murdoch. In a speech entitled
'We're all in this together' at the 40th annual James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture on 26 August, he said it would be "bad capitalism"
to diminish the national broadcaster and said the debate about the BBC's future had been poisoned by the newspaper industry.
"If the BBC were a weapons system, half the cabinet would be on a plane to Saudi Arabia to tell them how brilliant it was" he told the
Edinburgh audience.
Speaking the following day at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister called for the BBC to
be reorganised around a federal structure, with more money and new TV and radio services for Scotland, as part of its
charter renewal. In a fresh call for decentralisation she called for a new federal structure of BBC boards for Scotland,
Wales Northern Ireland and England under a UK board of trustees.
With the successful parliamentary launch in June of the broadcasting unions 'Love it or Lose it' campaign, the fight for
the future of the BBC is well underway. Yet before public consultations began on Charter Renewal, Culture Secretary John
Whittingdale told the House of Commons that the corporation had agreed to fully fund free TV licences for over-75s from
2020/21 at an estimated cost of £650m a year, while Tony Hall has warned that over 30,000 jobs could be lost if BBC funding
is cut through reducing the licence fee (Guardian, 25 August 2015). That's why we need a wide ranging campaign to protect the
BBC and safeguard the future of public service broadcasting.
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What you can do
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Sign BECTU's Love It Or Lose It petition
# Sign the 38 Degrees petition
# Open Democracy's Our Beeb section
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The Independent: Osborne's assault on the BBC is doing Murdoch's dirty work
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The Independent: Rupert Murdoch's private meeting with George Osborne: The mogul always likes to back a winner
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Download Autumn bulletin from 'Voice of the Listener & Viewer'
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Write to your MP
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Visit the Campaign Facebook page
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Learn more on the NUJ website
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Download the CPBF response to the DCMS consultation on Charter Renewal
And, of course, read the stories on this page.
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Don't let them scrap the BBC News Channel
news
The BBC management is making a decision next month which could be disastrous for UK news. The BBC News Channel has a weekly audience of 8 to 10 million, reaching more than a third of all households. But to cut costs, the BBC management is considering closing it and broadcasting the BBC World News TV in the UK instead. Or, closing both channels and creating a new one, with a foreign emphasis, which would air in Britain and globally.
» Read on
Entertainment unions launch alternative vision for BBC
campaigns | BBC
The Federation of Entertainment Unions (FEU) launched its BBC Alternative White Paper in the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday 15 March. The FEU's Alternative White Paper calls on the BBC to: • Renegotiate its agreement to fund free TV licences for the over-75s, which could mean a loss of 20 per cent of its budget; • Be independent of government interference, by extending the Charter period to 11 years to take it out of the political cycle; • Have a governance structure which is not filled with government appointees and includes representatives of its staff and licence fee payers; • Continue to be a universal broadcaster making a full range of popular drama and entertainment programmes; • Provide news free of bias and maintain standards of accuracy and integrity in its journalism.
» Read on
Government accused of using charter renewal to diminish BBC
campaigns | BBC
BBC charter renewal is being used by the Government to diminish the broadcaster and boost its competitors, Labour has claimed. “Eviscerating" the BBC is the only thing the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Culture Secretary agree on, shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle claimed in a swipe over divisions about the EU. She accused Culture Secretary John Whittingdale of ignoring public satisfaction with the broadcaster and using the BBC charter renewal as a way of cutting its output.
» Read on
Carving up the BBC: The Clementi Review of BBC Governance.
campaigns | BBC
The BBC has been a self-regulating organisation since its first Royal Charter in 1926. It used to be regulated by a Board of Governors, and more recently by a BBC Trust. The Governors were meant, more so than the Trust members, to be representative of the nations and regions and different interest groups in society. Now, the Clementi Report on the future of BBC Governance, published on 1 March 2016 is recommending the end of self-governance. It wants the BBC to be run on a day to day basis by what it calls a ‘unitary board’ and for the regulatory oversight to be given to the commercial media regulator, Ofcom.
» Read on
Other recent items
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Don't let them pull the plug on public service broadcasting
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Resignation! Making the news on the Daily Politics
Osborne got Murdoch's approval for shabby licence fee deal
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Whovians invade the BBC
BBC independence ‘eroded', says director general
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CPBF Response to the BBC Charter Renewal Consultation 2015
New research finds students trust BBC more than Facebook
Tory policy puts public service broadcasting under threat
Terrorism laws should not be used to sidestep press freedom, says NUJ
BBC open meeting
CPBF response to DCMS consultation: The balance of payments between television platforms and public service broadcaster
CPBF response to DG Tony Hall speech about the future vision for the BBC, Science Museum, London, 7 September
BBC's Asian Network to go on 24-hour strike
BBC News from MediaCity, Salford
FOI reveals claim that Real Lives row could have ‘destroyed' the BBC
BBC Charter renewal: invisible actors and critical friends
BBC Charter Review: This is Not the Place to Start
Why the BBC is like Greece: when love is not enough
A critical time for the BBC
Hall announces 1,000 jobs will go
TUC launches BECTU petition to save the BBC
Labour to fight for licence fee increase
Fight for our BBC
Campaign to defend the BBC
Media reform campaigners speak up for the BBC
Scrutinising the Scrutineers: part 1
The BBC was impervious to the launch of Sky News. Now they have to take notice
Support the BBC strike on Monday 18 February
The BBC: Is this the Corporation's Hacking Crisis?
George Entwistle resigns as BBC director general
An inquiry into liberal bias at the BBC must be independent
Entwistle aims at the bureaucracy
Stop Murdoch's BBC robbery
Lord Patten calls for BBC local radio U-turn
Delivering Quality First
Government under fire over alleged BBC licence fee talks with News Corp
Unions to ballot members at the BBC
BBC cuts - the chickens come home to roost
BBC is risking irreparable damage to ‘the best journalism in the world'
The BBC is not part of the problem raised by Hackgate
Protests against World Service closures
BBC - getting its capitulation in first
Union members at the BBC are still willing to fight to defend pensions
Licence fee for ‘wasteful' BBC will be cut
BBC Trust rejects 6 Music closure but the campaign goes on
BBC ‘failing to provide alternative to commercialised US children's programmes'
Fighting the BBC cuts gets parliamentary support
BBC cuts - make your voice heard
NUJ pledges to fight BBC cuts package
BBC announcement is capitulation to Murdoch
Minister gets the message over licence fee
Dyke in BBC ‘conspiracy' claim
BBC's future: a welcome dose of reality
Is BBC News online
Keeping Broadcasting Public
The BBC's future, our response
Keep Broadcasting Public - Victoria Brittain
Keep broadcasting public - Brendan Barber
Keep broadcasting public - Dr. Georgina Born
A view from the Guardian
Keep Broadcasting Public - observer's report
Keep broadcasting public - Tom O'Malley
Keep broadcasting public - James Purnell MP
BBC Conference Warns Against Complacency
Green Paper, white in parts
Ofcom's remedy is not ours...
Conference presentations can now be read here...
Ofcom's mission to destroy...
First cut or narrow escape?
PSB matters says Ofcom spokesman
Collective action & intervention can save public service
Evidence to the BBC Funding Review Panel - March 1999
