Today’s long awaited White Paper on the future of the BBC heralds a major shake-up in the Corporation’s governance and a significant retreat from some of Culture Secretary John Whittingdale’s more radical ambitions to ‘top-slice’ the licence fee and interfere in programme scheduling. Stealthier methods, such as Ofcom’s new power to police content ‘distinctiveness’ and Government appointees on the new unitary Board, may now be used to clip the BBC’s wings. The idea that some licence fee money should be open to contest from other broadcasters also now has a foot in the door. Still missing is a coherent account of precisely what problems any of these measures are intended to address.
Failing institutions require fundamental change, including greater competition where it can improve quality and provide better value for money. But there is no sense in which the BBC deserves to be classed as a failing institution. It leads the field in the popularity of its output. Its programmes scoop endless awards, here and abroad. Public trust and favourability ratings are very high. Its weekly global audience is now 348 million and rising. Its international commercial wing racks up more than £1bn in foreign sales annually. The BBC isn’t just a great British institution; it’s one of the most successful global brands on the planet. Why meddle with it?
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