Roger Bolton, formerly presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'Feedback' launches his very first podcast. Free from the constraints of broadcasting on the BBC, with a few more opinions and casting his net a little bit wider to encompass the whole of the BBC, Roger examines the issues that are facing the corporation and public service broadcasting.
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Roger Bolton, formerly presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'Feedback' launches his very first podcast. Free from the constraints of broadcasting on the BBC, with a few more opinions and casting his net a little bit wider to encompass the whole of the BBC, Roger examines the issues that are facing the corporation and public service broadcasting.
Find all our podcasts here
And please support this podcast by subscribing here
We also support VLV (Voice of the Listener and Viewer) which represents the interests of audiences to make sure we continue to benefit from high quality radio and TV in the UK. You can find them here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Pat Younge, former BBC Chief Creative Officer and board member at ITV Studios, responds to allegations of bias made against the BBC’s Panorama programme; outlines proposals from the British Broadcasting Challenge for renewing the BBC’s charter and ensuring its long-term independence and relevance; and discusses the impact of media consolidation by wealthy, powerful figures in the US and how this affects the UK media landscape, especially Channel 5. We also discuss broadcast funding models, governance reforms, the importance of universality and trust, the role of citizen assemblies and the prominence of news and current affairs.
“The BBC is like the sun around which our entire broadcasting universe revolves. So we need to get the BBC right. If everything else is going to be right.”
Find out more about the British Broadcasting Challenge: britishbroadcastingchallenge.com
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Matt Frei is the Europe editor and presenter of Channel 4 News who delivered the annual Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture. We discuss his speech, the state of democracy in the United States and whether what is happening there can happen here, BBC's coverage of Gaza and the propaganda war, challenges facing traditional news organisations and whether there is a place for GB News, the domination of the news cycle by Trump, his personal journey from Germany to becoming a prominent British journalist, and the complex media landscape in the era of social media and political polarisation.
"The audience wants stories to be told to them. It's how we do it and to how many people. That's really the issue here. But the internet, the diversification, the anarchy of what we have before us is a golden opportunity to tell more stories to more people, or a different group of people in different ways, and that's fantastic, and we should celebrate that."
Listen to all our episodes here: https://podfollow.com/beebwatch
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Professor Stephen Cushion, Director of Research at the Cardiff School of Journalism, discusses this week's decision by Ofcom on politicians presenting news programmes, the BBC's request to reduce the number of current affairs programmes in prime time, and his new research which analyses impartiality in news reporting, the representation of political parties, the impact of social media and news consumption, and generational attitudes towards impartiality.
"The rules are changing, aren't they? We're at a bit of a crossroads. Do we want to be more an opinionated type of TV and radio programming, or do we want to preserve these due impartiality guidelines."
Find out more about Prof Cushion’s research: https://www.enhancingimpartiality.com/
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Prof Paul Dixon, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester and Queen Mary College, University of London, discusses his new book, “The Militarisation of British Democracy: The Iraq and Afghan Wars and the Rise of Authoritarianism.” We explore the military’s influence on UK politics and society, the idea of a "militarist coalition," debates over defence spending, media coverage of military issues, and recent and historical conflicts including Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland.
"I had the luxury as an academic to go back and look at key instances where there were moral panics generated about Selly Oak hospital or the parades at Abingdon or alleged abuses of soldiers in Leatherhead Leisure Centre, and show that there was a lack of substance to a lot of those stories that were used to promote the militarisation of the UK. And what I found in looking back was that there wasn't very much analysis of those moral panics to get to the bottom of actually what was going on and whether there was real substance to these panics.”
Buy the book: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-militarisation-of-british-democracy.html
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Mary Hockaday, former Controller of BBC World Service, discusses the future of the BBC World Service amid funding pressures and political challenges, the debate over government and defence funding, the challenges of budget cuts, and the global influence and value of the World Service.
“For me, the most important thing in all of this is almost wherever the money comes from, that the principles of independence, editorial independence, are absolutely sacrosanct.”
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Stewart Purvis is the former Editor in Chief and Chief Executive of ITN and a former content regulator at Ofcom. We discuss Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s intervention in the debate on GB News, issues of impartiality in news, and the role of Ofcom and government in media regulation. As ITV celebrates its 70th birthday, we also look back on Stewart’s long career, the challenges facing ITN, and his so-called “nipple-gate” moment involving Princess Diana.
"Lisa Nandy has actually put the case extremely well, of what is going on: that really these are polemics, and that they really count as news. So now Ofcom is in a difficult position."
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Mark Damazer is a former controller of Radio 4, Deputy Director of BBC News, BBC trustee, writer, commentator, and chair of the Booker Prizes. We spoke to him about the BBC’s plans for its international audio services, the challenges of monetising content overseas, the implications for the BBC’s global reach and influence, the value of its radio archive, the future of public service broadcasting, and the role of consultation and vision in shaping the BBC’s direction.
There's still quite a lot that's been lost, and you feel really quite strongly; they've been making it up as they go along, and they've had a lot of trouble communicating to these audiences outside the UK, interested in BBC audio, what it is that they're actually doing.
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Robin Aitken is a former BBC journalist, author, and contributor to The Daily Telegraph. In this episode, he discusses his chapter in the book "The BBC: After the licence fee?"
We discuss the BBC’s internal culture, its approach to impartiality, the representation of religious perspectives, its coverage of events such as Brexit, audience trust in the BBC and factors affecting licence fee payments.
“There is an assumption in the BBC, broadly speaking, that public is always better than private; that a social democratic government anywhere in the world is always going to be preferable to what the BBC often terms ‘Far Right,’ and the way that they use those terms is itself such a giveaway.”
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Dr. Alice Donald, Professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University, is one of the author's of a report that was recently published this week from the Bonavero Institute at Oxford University on media coverage of the European Convention on Human Rights.
We examine the findings of the report, the prevalence and impact of misreporting, the role of the convention in areas beyond immigration, the political debate surrounding potential withdrawal and the impact on the Good Friday Agreement, and the responsibilities of public service journalism in informing the public.
The fact that his son liked British chicken nuggets had no bearing on the case, that it was nowhere near strong enough evidence to mean that the man shouldn't be deported. So, a) it wasn't the basis, and b) the decision was overturned anyway. But it continued to be reported.
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Professor John Wyver, Professor of Arts on Screen at the University of Westminster, joins us to discuss his involvement in the recent campaign opposing changes to access at the BBC Written Archive Centre.
We explore the archive’s purpose, the proposed access restrictions and their impact, the consultation process, potential alternative solutions, and the broader challenges facing public service broadcasting and the arts at the BBC.
There is no public catalogue of this archive, which seems to me is totally extraordinary for such an important repository. But also, some two-thirds of this archive have not been made available for anybody to research, so two-thirds of it remains closed in secret.
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Catherine Johnson, Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Leeds, is co-author of the report Behind the screen, how streaming is changing public service media, which was published this week and produced by the University of Leeds, the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT), the Campaign for the Arts and the Sandford St Martin Trust.
We discuss its findings and the challenges in measuring public service programming on streaming platforms, refusal of data by public service broadcasters, discoverability and personalisation issues, the decline in certain genres, the impact on independent producers, recommendations for improving transparency and accountability, the role of government and regulators and incentivising PSBs to broaden content.
“I said, at an event recently, "We've got 10 years to save public service media." And someone from the sector came back and said, "No, we've got three years to save public service media."”
Read the full report here: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/229430/
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Richard Ayre is a former controller of editorial policy and deputy chief executive of BBC News, before becoming a member of the BBC Trust. Richard is also a former member of the OFCOM content board.
In this week's episode, we discuss the BBC's Gaza documentary scandal, the MasterChef presenter dismissals, criticism from the Culture Secretary and OFCOM, challenges to BBC editorial oversight and the corporation's annual report.
“It’s outrageous that the Secretary of State lifts the phone and demands answers from the Director General."
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Marcus Ryder, CEO of the Film and TV Charity and former head of current affairs at BBC Scotland, discusses the recent Greg Wallace controversy, workplace behaviour, mental health, and power dynamics in the film and television industry.
"The very fact that so many people have come forward means that there's a large number of people who, up until recently, were experiencing something that they felt they couldn't properly talk about."
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The Voice of the Listener and Viewer conference held at the end of April featured a session with Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s Director of Nations. He spoke about the BBC’s storytelling and regional production, and was then questioned by the session’s chair — VLV Trustee, Classic FM presenter, and former BBC Radio 4 World Tonight presenter, Ritula Shah. Together, they explored challenges in TV production and co-production partnerships, tax credits and charter renewal, local radio, decentralising production, universality and the BBC’s mission, funding and the future of the BBC, as well as the BBC’s culture review and how it is addressing misconduct.
View and listen to the whole session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP4g1oVCv-I
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Miqdaad Versi, Director of Media Monitoring at the Muslim Council of Britain discusses the Centre for Media Monitoring's comprehensive report "BBC on Gaza-Israel: one story, double standards". We discuss the report's methodology and its use of AI to analyse over 35,000 pieces of BBC content over a year and examine its key findings, on the disproportionate coverage of Israeli deaths, fewer Palestinian interviews, inconsistent use of language and the suppression of genocide allegations.
"We want to engage positively and constructively. I'm not here to just attack the BBC. I'm here to constructively improve."
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Iain Dale is a broadcaster, political commentator, and presenter on LBC. We discuss his new short biography of Margaret Thatcher, written to introduce the former Prime Minister to a new generation. We explore her fraught relationship with the BBC, her influence on broadcasting policy, and what that legacy means today. We talk about the future of public service broadcasting, the BBC’s dominance, the rise of opinion-led channels like GB News, and whether the market can still deliver trusted journalism in a polarised age.
"The BBC has consistently failed to recognise that there is another point of view, and that point of view exists predominantly outside London."
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John Ware, veteran investigative journalist and former BBC Panorama reporter, with decades of experience covering complex and controversial subjects from the Troubles in Northern Ireland to antisemitism in British politics, discusses Gerry Adams’ defamation case against the BBC, the silence from parts of the Jewish community, BBC coverage of Gaza and the Middle East, the role of public service broadcasting, and the impact of agenda journalism.
"The BBC’s coverage actually is quite timid”
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Jonathan Thompson is Chief Executive of Everyone TV, the organisation that runs free television in the UK.
In this episode Jonathan discusses the launch of the UK's newest streaming platform, Freely, which brings together live and on demand content from the UK's public service broadcasters. We explore what Freely offers, its accessibility, and its role in preserving public service broadcasting. We explore critical issues facing UK television: how to maintain content diversity, attract younger viewers, and ensure public service content remains prominent in an increasingly fragmented digital landscape.
"Somewhere near a third of homes are purely internet TV households."
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Dr. Tom Mills, Chair of the Media Reform Coalition and co-author of the report “Our Mutual Friend: The BBC in the Digital Age”, discusses a detailed proposal for the mutualisation of the BBC—an idea supported by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. He explains what it would mean for audiences to become active participants in the Corporation’s governance, how such a model could work in practice, and what it could offer in terms of accountability, representation, and resistance to political interference.
“I think that the bigger risk actually is if the current governance system is maintained and you're under political pressure from the government and from organised interests in society.”
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Fresh from his BAFTA award, Patrick Spence, executive producer for Mr. Bates vs The Post Office discusses how the series was commissioned, why it was a success, how it was funded, the decline of certain TV drama genres, the crisis in the industry, the need of government support: levy vs tax breaks, the impact of tariffs, regional production, the streamers’ role and his upcoming project The Hack.
“If I was offered Mr. Bates vs the Post Office now as a prospective development, I would not take it on."
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