The BBC is spreading its influence…
Local papers cautious as BBC courts them with free content
They are traditionally the bitterest of rivals but now a BBC olive branch to regional newspapers has been given a cautious welcome by an industry whose sales have been in dizzying decline. James Harding, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs, has looked to build bridges with beleaguered editors with the offer of free licence fee-funded content and the prospect of the corporation picking up the tab for local court reporting.
Largely through pilots and proposals at this stage, the BBC will look to ease the financial burden on local newspapers by sharing more of its content, as it did with video footage of this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Nigel Pickover, editor of the Archant-owned Norwich Evening News and Eastern Daily Press, said he hoped the BBC would go beyond words to take action.
“The BBC’s licence fee means the corporation gets a soft comfort blanket of subsidy to compete with local newspaper organisations, which themselves have to fight and scrap for revenues at every turn,” he said.
“This, in turn, protects the journalism which, ironically, the BBC and others often rely on for their daily agendas.”
A reflection of the tension often felt between local papers and the BBC’s own local outlets, which span TV, radio and online, Pickover said it was clearly in the BBC’s interests to see thriving local news businesses as “many corporation outlets would be lost without us”.
Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, said there had been a “good and positive” exchange of views between the BBC and local and regional editors. “There have been lots of times when we have talked in the past and it has come to nothing. It’s obviously not something that can happen overnight,” he said.
“The BBC, with its resources from, in effect, the taxation of the public through the licence fee, that can create an uneven playing field. But there is a genuine attempt here on the part of the BBC to meet the concern of local papers.
“Where difficulties can arise in a partnership is if you have a big and powerful partner, it is usually the big and powerful partner that benefits the most. But both sides of the partnership have to see the benefits.”
Incredible really what the publicly funded BBC gets up to in the commercial sphere, never mind the political sphere with BBC Worldwide and its Media Action arm.
Here are a couple of examples of what the BBC provides to the world…..
What is BBC Worldwide Showcase?
BBC Worldwide Showcase is a unique annual sales festival hosted by BBC Worldwide.
Our flagship four-day festival attracts more than 600 of the world’s top TV and digital executives to Britain, and is the nation’s biggest television export market.
Beloved by buyers for its special atmosphere, each year BBC Worldwide Showcase unveils a spectacular array of new shows – accompanied by our catalogue of over 50,000 hours of first-class content.
And the BBC’s facilities and expertise used to provide ‘Studios and Post Production’ to other companies.
Creating and preserving award-winning content
We work with media companies to create and manage award-winning content across all genres for a wide range of platforms and broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 4 and Sky, as well as the BBC.
You could argue that this is the best use of the BBC’s resources and in providing them enables other media businesses to piggyback off them and grow.
or you could say this is a mega sized corporation dominating the business and smothering development of companies in their own right, killing off independent competitors.
And of course this makes the BBC the most dominant player in the market with huge power and influence to make or break other companies or competitors…..and if it is providing news content then we are also treated to the prospect of the BBC world view being disseminated through other outlets unable to compete with the BBC and unable to provide their own content and interpretation of news and events.
Down with helping thriving local news businesses, selling British content across the globe and creating award-winning programmes! Write on a Blog instead!
Down with a bloated behemoth crushing any dissenting voice from the public arena
Down with a bourgeois fauxcialist inquisition projecting their relativist views around the world at the expense of those they hold in contempt
In the corporate world it is not uncommon for the company’s IT department to lock all the internet-capable PCs browsers to start up on the company’s own ‘news’ page.
Having determined the news content of our local newspapers it can’t be long before we all have our start page set to
Alastair Campbell’sthe BBC’s ‘news’ page.One nation, one message, what’s not to like?
I don’t think the bbc will have to work hard for a free lunch in their shiny new home in Scallyford..they area stones throw from the Guardian and Manchester Evening News HQs, all hand wringing liberals together!
It is a worrying fact though, if the beeb are willing to ‘share’ their content there will almost certainly be a caveat added in their favour as there is no way we can trust the bbc to be impartial.
It could also be a clever way of protecting the future of the license fee, if the bbc can help all of these struggling media outlets with their future then it’s a win win for the bbc. I don’t believe for a minute the bbc is acting out of ‘concern’, it’s more protectionism for me.
If there was a nuclear war, three things would survive..rats, cockroaches and the bbc.
If it does happen in what other walk of life would this monopoly be acceptable, every utility industry has been smashed, Murdoch has finally had his wings clipped, even a proposed BskyB takeover of Manchester United was prevented in the interest of fair competition!!
In a UK where minorities rule and monopolies are smashed I still can’t believe that the bbc is being allowed to use taxpayer’s money as they do. This possible move is very worrying for me.
Glen, your letter is so clear, good and concise, that I think you should it to the PM, and your MP.
Handwriiten of possib;e, as that forces the gatekeepers to do something, rather the just click the spam button.
Orwellian newspeak by another name. That the BBC are purveyors of local or national news is always open to a question of ‘who do you serve’ (not England) or as they used to say ‘qui bono’ or who benefits – as it not be the local readership who want to read ‘how your local mosque is British styled, halal badged, imam goes green or other hogwash. More likely your local community can go stuff itself as we (BBC) will report on local bigotry against your new overseers and lords a awaiting. Local news becomes BBC monopoly dangerously extended for left wing endorsement.
Does this mean that local news will refer to ‘men’ whenever crimes are reported, following the ITMA (Its those men again) formula?
Thank goodness for the Blogs, and outlets like Breibert and the Commentator.
or “Asians” or Asians with a Pakistani “heritage”. Can the BBC, that font of truth and unbiassed reporting, enlighten us what that heritage is?
Ah … right -oh ….
BBC local editorial guideline constrain reports about local councils to only publishing those where the council has issued a response . As in no comment= no story…
As if Newsquest UK wasn’t already cheapskate semi-literate bad enough….
The local BBC has taken to turning ‘Strictly’, ‘The Apprentice’, etc. into semi news items with the exhortations to ‘like us on Facebook’, ‘follow us on Twitter’ or watch (suffer) us again on iPlayer. Both they and the local papers are now so dumbed down they are worthy bedfellows.