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Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Beith MPLiberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Berwick Upon TweedWorking for you and the Berwick upon Tweed Constituency all year roundin Northumberland and in Westminster |
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Beith welcomes U-turn on BBC cuts to local broadcasting – but says detail will be true test of intent
January 27, 2012 10:32 AM
Berwick's Liberal Democrat MP Sir Alan Beith has welcomed news that the campaign to protect the BBC's regional broadcasting in the north east has been successful.
Yesterday BBC Trust Chairman Lord Patten announced that he had asked BBC bosses to look again at their cuts to BBC local radio and regional shows like Inside Out. This comes after lobbying by Sir Alan to protect the BBC in the north east.
In his speech Lord Patten has asked the BBC to replace the cuts planned for local radio stations with extra efficiency savings across the BBC. This is estimated to be around £10 million. Lord Patten also said that the BBC will be asked to rethink the plans to shift investigative journalism from its existing regional structure to three "super-regions", a move opposed by Sir Alan. Sir Alan is writing again to Lord Patten today asking for an urgent meeting to discuss how the efficiency savings will be made and what if any impact they will have on BBC broadcasting and investigative journalism in the north east.
Director General Mark Thompson has today said in an email to BBC staff that: "Staff in BBC local radio newsrooms are to be staffed at their current levels"
Under the BBC's Delivering Quality First plans there will still be programme cuts, staff redundancies and a lot of belt tightening throughout the organisation but many observers think today's news is a lot more optimistic than previously thought.
Sir Alan said
"I am pleased that the BBC have listened to people throughout the north east and agreed to safeguard BBC broadcasting in the region, and to be making new plans for the work of its investigative journalists.
"My job now is to look at the detail and make sure it isn't just a cut by the back door. I am asking for an urgent meeting to go through the plans with BBC bosses to make sure we continue to enjoy the distinctive broadcasting and high quality investigative work, such as that seen on Inside Out, from around the north east.
"It is vital the investigative journalism is carried out by the BBC in regions like the north east, both for the audience within the region and to ensure that the BBC's national output reflects life beyond the M25."
In an extract from Lord Patten's speech to the Oxford Media Convention on 25 January 2012, he said:
"…our consultation and our research have raised real concerns that some aspects of the plans as they stand would have a disproportionate impact on its local and regional output and the contribution such output makes to the most important priority for the BBC - its journalism.
"While the BBC needs to reduce costs in these areas just as it does everywhere else, we agree that local and regional services in England provide something unique for audiences that can otherwise be neglected by the mainstream media. The BBC cannot afford to get these changes wrong.
"So we have asked the management to look again at the planned cuts to local radio. To see if they can find more money to protect the local identity of services:
- To scale back the plans for local stations to share their afternoon content with their neighbours, although we accept that in some cases that might still be the best option
- To ensure they have an adequately staffed newsroom
- And to give them a bit more freedom to protect some of their more specialist and content out of peak, whether it be rugby league or specialist music.
"We have also asked for a re-think of the plans for merging regional current affairs programmes in England into 'super-regions'. We want to see a plan that will preserve the regional integrity and investigative quality of this programming, which no other broadcaster provides.
"In total, we expect these changes to cost the BBC no more than £10m. We have asked the Executive to bring us new proposals along with suggestions for how they might save the money from non-content budgets. Meanwhile, we will continue to analyse the detailed responses to our consultation, to work with Ofcom to test the regulatory impact of the changes and to complete our ongoing reviews of English local radio and the Asian Network, so that we can publish our final conclusions on the whole DQF plan in the Spring."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/speeches/2012/oxford_media_convention.shtml
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