BBC plan is putting your local Leicestershire news at risk

Regional publishing businesses across the country are today joining together to make one thing clear: the BBC is on a mission to be the only show in town. It has taken the ‘local’ out of local radio by drastically cutting the number of hours of locally produced shows[1] you’ll hear on Radio Leicester, and instead intends to write more local news online, directly competing with LeicestershireLive a[2]nd similar local news websites and newspapers. The move comes at a time when those news websites are already battling with tech platforms such as Google, Meta (Facebook) and Apple for a fair share of the value generated by their own content.

American tech companies have been allowed to take the lion’s share of the advertising revenues that our stories generate. But unlike LeicestershireLive and other local commercial news brands, which have to work hard for every penny of income, the BBC’s funding is guaranteed by you, the licence fee payer, meaning the British public is underwriting the biggest threat local journalism has ever faced. It means, effectively, that the BBC is on course to reduce your access to sources of news.

In a democracy, how can that possibly be right? The corporation is choosing to push the money it receives from you towards its own local news websites – which only publish news that adheres to the state-funded BBC’s strict guidelines – thereby making it increasingly difficult for proud, independent news sites such as this one to survive in the long term. If it is allowed to carry on, the effect on a free Press in the UK will be catastrophic.

Imagine a country where there is only one voice – and that voice is connected to the government and cannot, due its need to be neutral, fight on your behalf. It sounds like it couldn’t happen here. But if the BBC’s plans are not stopped, that is absolutely the road we will be on.

The BBC is a publicly-funded organisation that is quickly establishing itself as the single biggest threat to the survival of local, independent journalism in the UK. It doesn’t matter if these consequences aren’t intended. The BBC says it wants to be a good neighbour to local newspapers such as the Leicester Mercury, sister title of LeicestershireLive and a trusted source of local news for generations.

In reality, it has somehow become the neighbour from hell – a seemingly unstoppable, state-funded juggernaut on course to suffocate independent journalism in every city, town and village in the UK. A free Press is fundamental to a free society. If the BBC’s plans are allowed to go ahead, they will be remembered as the point where the power of big tech and the BBC merged to crush the proud, British tradition of a diverse and independent media which is entirely independent from the state.

What a shameful legacy that would be for Tim Davie, the 17th Director-General of the BBC. The idea is that the BBC will produce more local news online to meet a demand which it claims is there. As mentioned, this comes at a time when the BBC is taking the axe to its much-loved local radio stations[4] – traditionally a vital source of information[5] for older people in particular – and when the local independent Press is particularly vulnerable.

Already we’re seeing the BBC bragging about all the extra articles they are writing. As a BBC digital editor posted recently: “Been doing some number crunching today. Compared to October 2022, the number of stories the amazing BBC West team has published on the website has gone up 44%.” That might sound like a good thing, but it is not.

The BBC has a huge advantage over its commercial competitors, and eating up their audience is nothing to boast about – unless the corporation is on a deliberate mission to be the aforementioned only show in town, and that wouldn’t benefit anyone, except those within the BBC. Making aggressive moves into sections of the market served by commercial and independent operators is not what a public service broadcaster was set up to do. If the BBC wants to fairly compete, and be part of a diverse and trusted local news reporting ecosystem, it needs to stand on its own two corporate feet and pay its way.

Our reporters hold local decision-makers to account, campaign on your behalf, research and share essential information and hold up a mirror to the things that impact our readers’ lives the most, whether it be scrutinising political decisions[6], or doggedly campaigning to help people find out how their loved ones were treated when in the care of others[7]. We are your ears, eyes and voice. We exist to support you, and keep you informed.

Now, all that is at risk. The explosion of the internet, from which we all benefit, means that many of us now read news on our phones or tablets for free, rather than buying a paper as we used to. The BBC’s move into online publishing has accustomed all of us to believe news is free.

In reality, news is expensive to produce. It always has been. Getting reporters and photographers out onto the streets, turning what they see into accurate stories you want to read, in a format that suits you, is hard work, costly and backed by years of training and expertise.

Without advertising money, without readers buying papers and with much of the revenue produced by our work snapped up by big tech, our ability to do this suffers. This is the behind-the-scenes battle that the Leicester Mercury, LeicestershireLive and other commercial news titles across the country have been fighting for years, with only you, the reader, as our support. But the BBC doesn’t have to worry about any of this, because you pay its bills, via what amounts to a mandatory tax; a tax that will land you in court if you don’t or can’t pay it, with as many as 1,000 people a week in that situation.

Which brings us to where we are now: the BBC using your money and its power to embark on a new project which will ultimately reduce the number of sources from where you can get your news – and, in particular, news which does not come with government strings attached. The monopoly power of two giants – BBC on one hand, big tech on the other – will combine to reduce what choice you have over the news you get. And you will be expected to pay for it all, through the licence fee.

You live in a democracy, but this is far from democratic. None of this is to say that the BBC doesn’t have an important, long-cherished, function in our society. But its function is to support our democracy – not weaken it by silencing independent voices which carry their own authority.

The UK’s free Press is a vital part of everything our society values. And now it could be lost overnight. The BBC says its plans will deliver “a stronger and more distinctive local online news service” in 43 different “local areas” in England.

In reality, the sector as a whole will be weaker and less distinctive if this scheme is allowed to go ahead. And that will impact directly and negatively on you – the person who is paying for it. The Government is taking welcome steps to tackle the market abuses by Meta and Google through the Digital Markets Bill, which we hope will create a level playing field between publishers and tech platforms.

Now it is time to rein in the BBC as well, and to remind the BBC that it is at its best when it is not trying to compete with businesses that don’t share its tax payer-funded advantages – and that if it wants to compete like a business, then it should be willing to give those advantages up.

References

1. ^ drastically cutting the number of hours of locally produced shows (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
2. ^ intends to write more local news online, directly competing with LeicestershireLive a (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
3. ^ Leicester pedestrian zones ‘leaving disabled people feeling unsafe and excluded’ (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
4. ^ taking the axe to its much-loved local radio stations (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
5. ^ traditionally a vital source of information (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
6. ^ scrutinising political decisions (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
7. ^ find out how their loved ones were treated when in the care of others (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)