Numerous scandals and the recent resignation of the Director General should not “color” the BBC‘s crucial charter renewal negotiations, the UK Culture Minister has told Deadline as he fired the starting gun on a green paper that will set the corporation up for the next decade.
The government’s just-published green paper focused extensively on workplace misconduct at the BBC, making suggestions and flagging “a number of appalling examples of abuses of power within the workplace” that have damaged the corporation’s reputation, when it should instead be seen as a “role model.”
But speaking to Deadline just before the paper was published, lawmaker Ian Murray told us that charter renewal – which amongst other things sets the BBC’s funding model until the end of next decade – is bigger than these scandals, which have included the likes of Huw Edwards, Gregg Wallace and Russell Brand.
“What I don’t want to do is for the charter review process to be negative about the BBC,” said Murray. “I want [these issues] to influence [changes] that need to be made at the BBC in terms of governance and editorial independence including workplace concerns but I don’t want that to color the green paper in terms of driving forward what the BBC should look like in the next decade. Yes we need to address those issues but they should be a part of it, not driving it.”
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In some senses, Murray argued that Davie’s bombshell exit over the Donald Trump Panorama SNAFU, which ramped up this morning when Trump sued the BBC for $10BN, makes the negotiations easier going forwards as it proves his point.
“I think from my perspective it makes it easier to look at the big issues of the BBC but to try and get on the front foot in terms of saying this is a national institution in the next decade, and is not about the last few months,” said Murray. “I want to make the case for why the BBC is so important. The recent trials and tribulations of the BBC in certain areas are a very, very small part of what the BBC does.”
Murray said the government will not be helping the BBC in its escalating legal battle with the POTUS, which he stressed is very much a matter for the corporation. “It is not for us to get involved,” he said.
Today’s green paper covered recent BBC scandals extensively and made a number of suggestions including that the BBC centralizes its apporoach to internal complaints so that complaints to third party production companies are considered “holistically, and patterns of unacceptable behaviour can be identified.” “Within this work, we will consider how any new requirements can be effectively regulated,” it added.
A change in the role of the BBC Board to ensure action is taken against workplace misconduct was also floated.
Merger with Channel 4 on the cards?
Murray said the green paper, which suggested new funding models but said the government does not want the BBC to ditch the “tried and tested license fee,” will be “agile enough to deal with the technological advances that nobody quite knows what they will look like.”
One drastic move could be the BBC merging with Channel 4, especially given that Sky could be about to buy ITV, and Murray said the paper “opens us up to that discussion.”
“There’s no doubt there is consolidation right across the media industry from local newspapers to Netflix and Warner Bros., and our public sector broadcasters play a key role in that,” he added. “I don’t know if the public have a full cognisance of our public sector media environment in terms of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. I think this green paper gives an opportunity to tell that story, which I think bolsters the need for the BBC and for public sector broadcasting.”
One move the green paper did rule out, however, is the BBC being placed “under a statutory footing like Channel 4.” Instead, the lengthy document stressed that the 100-year-old broadcaster will “remain a publicly funded public service media organisation.”
It pointed to other potential areas of partnership like the BBC’s tie-up with NBCUniversal on shows like The Traitors and Destination X.
“The BBC has said that it plans to step up its ambition to explore partnerships with the wider industry, particularly across media and technology, to enable it to adapt to changing technologies and markets,” said the green paper. “This could include building on its international partnerships, such as its partnership with the US media company NBCUniversal to co-commission The Traitors and The Traitors US, which enables them to share locations and suppliers, and scale the format internationally.”
The paper also called for “administrative burdens” to be removed when it comes to partnerships and for the BBC to do more on YouTube.
“As platforms like YouTube become increasingly important in mediating access to content, we need to ask whether the BBC’s current approach is right for all audiences, or if further expansion in its use of third party platforms could bring audiences (and the organisation itself) additional benefits,” the paper added. “For example, other broadcasters like Channel 4 are sharing full-length episodes of series like First Dates and Grand Designs on YouTube.”