Roger Bolton's Beeb Watch

Jon Williams, Executive Director of the Rory Peck Trust, former foreign editor at BBC News, and managing editor of ABC News in the US and RTÉ. We discuss the work of the Trust; the challenges facing freelance journalists; the rise in deaths and imprisonment of journalists; dealing with propaganda wars and media companies; and how broadcasters should handle lawsuits.

“As news organisations have got less and less money to base foreign correspondents overseas, then more and more they're turning to freelancers to fill that gap, and the awards are … both an act of recognition and an act of resistance to this climate of misinformation that we find ourselves in.”

Find out more about the Rory Peck Trust: https://rorypecktrust.org/

Dan Thomas is the global media editor of the Financial Times and its former business editor. We discuss the turbulence shaking up the UK media industry: the high-stakes merger talks between ITV and Sky – what that means for the future of public service broadcasting, the challenges posed by increasing media consolidation and what lies ahead for major players like Channel 4.

We also discuss the current leadership crisis at the BBC and the potential impact of the government's long-awaited green paper.

"Sky buying ITV—you know, the biggest UK commercial public sector broadcaster—is massive. This wouldn’t have been thinkable, really, not so long ago. And it changes the whole public sector broadcasting landscape. It has huge ramifications for what happens to the BBC. It has huge importance for Channel 4."

At the Voice of the Listener and Viewer autumn conference, the second session chaired by former BBC World Tonight presenter Ritula Shah, dealt with enhancing impartiality in news. Professor Stephen Cushion, Director of Research and Impact at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture, presented new research on impartiality standards in news, followed by a discussion on the implications of the rise of opinion-led TV and radio for audiences.

The panellists, apart from Professor Cushion, included Professor Stewart Purvis CBE, former Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive of ITN, and Richard Ayre, former Controller of Editorial Policy and Deputy Chief Executive of BBC News. They discussed the recent crisis, political appointments to public bodies, the role of Ofcom and its interpretation of impartiality rules, and the allocation of air time to political parties.

There were also questions on global news in broadcasting, fact-checking, editorial guidelines, whether the Reith lecture should have been edited and governance.

“Samir’s best is not good enough at the moment.”

Subscribe to the VLV here: https://vlv.org.uk/

After a turbulent few weeks for the BBC, the Voice of the Listener and Viewer held a timely panel titled “What Next for the BBC?” at its conference on Wednesday. The speakers were Mark Damazer — former Controller of Radio 4, Deputy Director of BBC News, BBC Trustee — and Stephen Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster.

They tackled the growing crisis of governance at the Corporation: the politicisation of the BBC Board, the influence of political appointees and how shifts in governance over the years have reshaped the BBC’s independence. They explored the tension between board culture and structural reform, questioned the effectiveness of Ofcom’s oversight, and assessed proposals for a new, genuinely independent appointments body.

They also faced questions on the BBC’s response to recent criticisms — including the Prescott memo - and the pressures facing BBC leadership.

Subscribe to the VLV here: https://vlv.org.uk/

Andy Webb is the author of Dianarama: The Betrayal of Princess Diana. We discuss his years-long investigation into the BBC Panorama interview with Princess Diana, the controversial methods used by journalist Martin Bashir, the ongoing questions of BBC accountability and transparency, and the significant challenges he faced accessing the BBC’s archives in pursuit of the full story.

"It could be plausibly argued that Diana would be alive today—64 years old, the grandmother of five kids—had the BBC, in April of 1996 or thereabouts, told her what they knew."