Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear: ‘We are like an ant versus Goliath when it comes to the BBC’
Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear has mixed feelings about the BBC. He sees Newsnight as his main rival and variously describes the corporation as “stifling”, “crippling” and “a monster”. Equally, though, he speaks with relish about the level of competition it offers him.
“I think it’s an incredibly healthy time for British broadcast journalism to have two strong, daily broadcast journalism programmes.”
He goes on to point out the challenges presented by the BBC. “When it comes to the digital side, we are swamped. I wouldn’t even call it David versus Goliath. We are like an ant versus Goliath when it comes to the BBC. It stifles competition online,” he says, adding that a good online exclusive for Channel 4 News will often get far more traffic on the BBC website when it is followed up.
Channel 4 News has, he says, no more than 50 journalists, eight of whom will be working online “on a good day”. He says that the BBC has thousands of journalists who are able to work online each day (BBC News says it has 8,000 staff including 5,500 journalists).
“We know that we can compete in television news – because it’s all about that hour-long programme, or that three minutes of television. We know our journalists and cameramen are as good as theirs, if not better,” he says.
“But we are swamped by the BBC’s online resources. We constantly think how can we put this out and keep the traction we have, because it’s such a monster. It’s just a massive thing.”
He adds: “Our biggest priority is to extend even further our digital reach. But we are, in terms of television news websites, swamped by their size, their ability to deploy resources.”
Competition? One bunch of left liberals vs another bunch of lefties. Give over.
One hive with different entances.
Has the BBC really got 5500 journalists?
What on earth for? Sack 2/3rds and make the rest work harder. Doubt anybody would notice the difference.
The BBC. One of the very last state make work concerns.
‘Has the BBC really got 5500 journalists?
What on earth for? ‘
I thought it was 8,000. Even so, it is a mystery.
Maybe some kind of scheme to reduce unemployment numbers in North London Postcodes?
‘Journalists’ is also a bit of stretch. Mostly the cubicle gardens seem to comprise a hot desk, phone & internet connection to get a ‘PR as news’ release dumped in their laps by a friendly source, which an array of BBC-issued Apple products are used to cut and paste into a ‘story’.
Overseas, the skill sets are roughly the same. Witness the BBC Meriam Ibrahim ‘scoop’ that mislead the world and bought her jailers time enough for global attention to move on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27651483
‘Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a daughter in custody, will be freed in a few days, the official told the BBC.’
http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/meriam-ibrahim/58743/meriam-ibramin-sudan-denies-retracting-death-sentence
‘On Sunday the BBC reported that a Sudanese foreign ministry official had said Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a baby girl while in prison last week, would be freed from custody “in a few days’ time”.”
most of the journalists and presenters working at channel 4 are all ex bbc stock,well most of them,i cant see what they are moaning about at channel 4 when that news channel is probably more left wing biased than the bbc and that is saying something,compare tonights cozy freindly like pro european interview by jon snow with the best leader that the labour party never had kenneth clarke to the nasty hate filled anti ukip interview jon snow did when he tried but failed to smear nigel farage and ukip a few weeks ago,the only difference betrren channel 4 and the bbc is that we pay out of are license for for left wing bias where at channel 4 we get it for free,yes the bbc is a monster out of control, but channel 4 is just its little godzilla freind in blatant politacal bias.
was Snow wearing purple and yellow socks as usual? Such an anti-establishment rebel when he probably gets paid in the six figures
BBC? Biased rubbish.
Channel 4? Biased rubbish.
Little to choose between them.
Like choosing between a Trabant and a Wartburg in the old GDR.
I was going to say that at least our licence tax money doesn’t go to Channel 4 too, but then remembered that it (and S4C) is publicly-owned so it is a recipient of licence money.
Channel 4 should try and imagine what it must be like for a fully commercial organisation, with zero state funding, to compete with the over mighty BBC. The comments from Channel 4 do make a powerful case for a dramatic reduction in the size and scope of the BBC. If we have a single broadcaster with such a high % of the news consumption our democracy is in danger to a much greater extent than it would have been had Mr Murdoch taken over the whole of Sky. We need plurality of providers , at least 6 or 7 main news providers, who compete with each other on an equal footing. The BBC is far too big and must be massively reduced or got rid of all together.
Really odd that Mr de Pear sees the BBC as unfair competition but only for Channel 4.
What about the BBC’s 70% coverage of the nation’s news and current affairs – isn’t that a threat but on a much bigger and more sinister scale?
I guess being of the Left he can’t see it – either because he’s politically biased or he’s suffering from Leftie Logic Deficit Disorder or both.