NUJ welcomes watchdog’s role in assessing a new channel to replace BBC News and BBC World News
The union believes the BBC is making a huge mistake in closing the BBC News Channel and BBC World and creating a new rolling news service by April 2023.
The union welcomes Ofcom’s role in assessing whether the change will allow the BBC to continue to “provide high quality, accurate and impartial news to build people’s understanding of all parts of the UK and of the wider world” and whether the changes to its commercial activities could “distort the market or create an unfair advantage”.
It agrees with the regulator that the BBC needs to make its plans more transparent and provide more details. Ofcom has the power to “impose conditions in the Operating Licence relating specifically to BBC News and how it must serve UK audiences”. The new channel will result in the loss of 70 jobs.The BBC News Channel is a 24-hour impartial and independent service offering breaking news, analysis and insight. It provides fast and comprehensive coverage of local, UK and international events as they unfold. Its news packages and interviews are used throughout the BBC’s network.
BBC World News is funded by subscription and advertising revenues, not by the UK television licence, and is not broadcast in the UK, though reports and programming are also used by the BBC News channel.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said:
“BBC News Channel is hugely successful in providing news from all parts of the UK – and its packages and interviews are used throughout the whole network. It has a special role in covering stories across the devolved nations and its audience is more diverse, across all categories, than BBC One or the other BBC channels. Many local stories will be lost if they have to compete with international events for airtime.
“Under the proposals, for overseas viewers the new channel will still carry adverts. How can licence fee money be spent on a commercial project? This must surely have implications for competition.
“Creating a new channel will inevitably diminish the overall breath and diversity of content, and for UK licence-fee payers this could have a direct effect on democracy. That is why the NUJ is calling for the BBC News Channel and BBC World News to remain as two distinct channels. The BBC needs to be much more upfront about the plans and we expect Ofcom to play a full role in protecting the service licence fee payers deserve and expect, and which are part of the BBC’s remit.”
Ofcom: Changes to BBC News and the applicable regulatory framework
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