Roger Bolton's Beeb Watch

Professor Catherine Johnson from the University of Leeds discusses her role on the recently announced DCMS committee, which is examining the future of TV distribution. New research indicates that some viewers could be excluded from the general shift towards online viewership. We also explore the rise of YouTube, ways to ensure access to public service content, and how a household tax might work.

“There is a ticking time bomb here, to be honest, in relation to digital terrestrial. So most other countries have upgraded their digital terrestrial infrastructure, or committed to upgrading their digital terrestrial infrastructure.”

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Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster, discusses BBC Chair Samir Shah's inaugural speech. We explore what devolving, democratising, and depoliticising means, loosening regulation, re-evaluating the roles and remits of other public service broadcasters, and alternative funding models.

“I'm not sure a permanent charter is the way to go, but I think some kind of independent body to whom the responsibility is devolved for making funding decisions and for appointing the BBC chair, I would incidentally add the Ofcom chair, which is accountable to Parliament but is out of the control of government. I think those are really important changes that are necessary.”

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Jamie Angus is the former director of the BBC World Service and the former editor of 'Today' and 'Newsnight' who now works in the Middle East. We discuss what the budget announcement means for funding of the World Service, why HardTalk makes the world 'a less stupid place', original journalism, the unintended consequences of commercialisation and US election and Middle East coverage.

"The BBC is not protecting its essential news services enough when it comes to allocating the cuts. The case for the BBC’s existence relies on its utterly distinctive public service remit.”

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Richard Sambrook, former Director of BBC News and the World Service, and now an Emeritus Professor of journalism at Cardiff University discusses the challenges the BBC faces in dealing with the rise of disinformation, the balance between free speech and responsibility, the BBC's 'follow the sun' strategy, World Service funding and the impact of budget cuts on BBC News.

"I do have the concern that what sometimes gets lost in the mix is the depth and significance of BBC journalism, as opposed to simply competing with what everyone else is doing. I'm sure if I were to talk to Deborah Turness or anyone else, they would come up with a whole list of examples that would illustrate how they are maintaining depth and significance. But I think, to the public, when they look at some of these cuts, that’s what worries people."

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In the same week that BBC Director General Tim Davie pitched for an increase in government funding for the BBC World Service, while simultaneously axing the global interview programme Hard Talk in another round of cuts, we speak with Gareth Benest, Director of Advocacy at the International Broadcasting Trust. We discuss the decline in international coverage by UK broadcasters, his analysis of the shrinking breadth of countries featured in news and current affairs programming, and the potential impact of new media legislation, algorithms, and public service broadcasting.

“Last year, it surprised me that there was, as far as I could see from the logging that I did of linear schedules, there was not a single programme outside of news broadcasts about Rwanda. The most spoken about African country, perhaps in the history of UK media, last year, there wasn't a single documentary. There wasn't a single current affairs programme that actually gave UK citizens an opportunity to understand the country.”

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