The BBC’s board of governors has been criticised by Gerald Kaufman for being past its sell-by-date. The chairman of the commons media select committee, he launched his report on the Government’s Communications White Paper yesterday, saying that the governors had “outlived their usefulness” and suggested that new plans for the regulation of the Corporation were “unfinished.”
The BBC was largely left out of radical new proposals for the regulation of media which were unveiled in the White Paper last year (see Chris Smith Unveils Ofcom). The creation of Ofcom to replace the “alphabet soup” of current regulation brought all media sectors together under a super-regulator, a move which was seen as vital for further flexibility with media. The decision to exclude the BBC from such plans was considered “absurd” by Kaufman.
His committee has asked for the BBC to be included within the remit of Ofcom, so that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, rather than the board of governors, would have the power to approve its decisions. “By failing to provide for an integrated approach by the new regulator to all broadcasters including the BBC, the government has left a large amount of unfinished business,” the report said.
“We recommend that the House of Commons be given a full opportunity early in the next parliament to consider the future regulation and governance of the BBC as part of the process leading to enactment of the new regulatory regime,” it continued. His opinion will be supported by commercial broadcasters, who have called for a level playing field within media as new platforms emerge.
ISBA welcomed the findings of the committee, saying, “Kaufman’s call for the BBC to be subject to the same regulation as the rest of broadcasting is in strong accord with the views of industry. Advertisers who in effect fund commercial broadcasting want to see a level playing field in broadcast regulation. It makes no sense that the BBC, which is funded by the licence fee, should have lighter touch regulation and controls than the commercial stations.”
A BBC spokeswoman said that the report raised interesting issues. “However, there is a danger that the balance between commercial and public interest would be lost if Ofcom were to become the sole regulator of the BBC,” she said.
The report also suggested that regulation surrounding cross media ownership be relaxed and that the points system governing radio ownership should be abandoned. It said that the Government had failed to educate the public on digital television and asked for a public information campaign to be orchestrated.
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