Roger Bolton's Beeb Watch

Sir Richard Eyre, the renowned theatre and film director, who has served as a BBC Governor, shares his concerns over the cuts to radio drama programming, the broader challenges facing the BBC's cultural remit, the tensions between the BBC's public service mission and commercial pressures, and role of the BBC in nurturing and sustaining the UK's cultural landscape.

"I would say the BBC is the most important cultural organisation in the world, and the Director-General of the BBC should be standing up, saying that, and putting his heart and soul and practical application into making sure that the BBC lived up to that proclamation. Well, they don’t, and they’ve pitifully ignored the arts. They've cut the arts department in television, and now, they're cutting drama on in radio."

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Conservative MP, Dame Caroline Dinenage is the Chair of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee. We discuss the upcoming debates around the renewal of the BBC's charter, the crucial issues of the corporation's funding, impartiality, and role in public service broadcasting, as well as the future of the BBC World Service and the Greg Wallace revelations.

“We're entering a winter period when there's a number of pensioners who've just had their winter fuel tax removed, when energy prices are rising because the energy fuel cap has come to end, and to suddenly find that you've your licence fee’s going up as well. I just thought the timing was unfortunate.”

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Peter York is a cultural commentator, author, and former Style Editor of Harper's & Queen magazine. He is best known for co-authoring the iconic Official Sloane Ranger Handbook in the 1980s. More recently, Peter has shifted his focus to more serious topics, including co-authoring The War Against the BBC with Professor Patrick Barwise.

This week, we discuss Peter’s latest book, A Dead Cat on Your Table, which delves into the world of "culture wars," the role of media personalities, influencers, and think tanks. We also explore Elon Musk's potential $100 million donation to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party and assess the extent to which the BBC is constrained in addressing "culture war" issues due to government pressure and funding concerns.

“It's the one structural fault that dates from the 20s. The government has too much power over the BBC’s funding and too much power over the BBC in other ways too. And you look at the manipulations of the last decade, and you can absolutely see that.”

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Andrew Greystone, writer and broadcaster, has played a pivotal role in exposing the abuse committed by John Smythe within the Church of England. In this discussion, he addresses the ongoing debate around the assisted dying bill, the media's approach to religion in ethical discussions, and the decline of religious literacy among journalists. He also shares the story behind uncovering Smythe’s abuse, the Church of England’s response, and discloses further revelations are set to break next year.

“I know that there are at least three major church abuse stories affecting the Anglican Church that will break in 2025. Now Lambeth Palace knows that as well; the Church of England knows that as well. Why do they want to wait for everything to be dragged out of them, rather than putting it on the table?"

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Roger Mosey, a former Editorial Director of the BBC, Head of TV News, and Director of Sport, discusses his lecture to the Commonwealth Journalists Association on the challenges facing public service media, the mainstream media's lack of understanding of political landscapes in the UK and US, clickbait, interactivity and audience connections, as well as cuts and talent drain at the BBC.

"The BBC’s Charter says it must engage the public to a very high standard with the issues of the day and inform our democracy. And that's non-negotiable. It's got to do it, and it does many times do that. It doesn't do it enough, and I think its political coverage is particularly weak. Why? Because the Westminster bubble dominates the political coverage, and there's too much about who's up, who's down, and there's too much about short-term headlines."

Listen to all our episodes here: https://podfollow.com/beebwatch/view