The broadcasters’ grim headlines are certainly reaching the public they are aimed at. In recent days, news audiences for coverage of the coronavirus have reached record levels. Sky News is claiming an increase in viewing of 70 per cent in a week, and the BBC’s television bulletins – which had been slowly declining over the years – have acquired renewed urgency. The News at Six is being watched each day by an average of 5.2m adults – an increase of 27 per cent on 2019. Online, the BBC’s number of page views more than doubled in seven days.
As we fear for the world and its people, there seems to be an ever-increasing hunger for trusted facts, which is reassuring for all who are alarmed by the hysteria and inaccurate information on social media. In these most challenging of times, public service broadcasting is being given a chance to show why it exists, and for the BBC in particular there is an opportunity to demonstrate to a sceptical government why a universally funded service retains its relevance.
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