Media Green Paper Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Lord Birt
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Media Green Paper
Lord Birt Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
One of the real strengths of the BBC is that it is such a trusted source of news, and that is behind a lot of the issues within this. On the ongoing discussions with the FCDO, I am happy to meet the noble Baroness to discuss that. As she is aware, another Minister in the department deals with this. The Secretary of State has referred to the BBC’s overseas coverage as
“a light on the hill”,—[Official Report, Commons, 16/4/26; col. 992.]
and somewhere that people go to, so we do recognise the real importance of the World Service.
Lord Birt (CB)
My Lords, I too welcome the Green Paper because, frankly, Rome is burning. Two of the UK’s greatest, most respected and historic achievements are threatened by the globalisation of media—a lively, challenging and diverse press, which we have had for centuries, and an unmatched tradition of public service broadcasting, encompassed by Channel 4 and ITV, as well as the BBC, which we have had for almost a century. For over a century, through those means, we have created a very effective national debating chamber and brilliantly captured our national culture, talent and capability. Does the Minister accept that radical measures will be needed to arrest these trends?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The Government are fully behind the BBC, both at the present time and as a future source of trusted news and content. Through the charter review process, a lot of these conversations are happening and we are looking in particular at how we can ensure that the funding model is sustainable while being fair and affordable for households. We are clear that,, if we can get sustainable funding and make sure that we get the prominence regime on the internet as well as on television screens, then we should go a long way to ensuring a strong future for our press and media. I would probably draw back a little from saying Rome is burning. There is so much good practice out there that we should celebrate, but I appreciate that we need to see the warning signs of what might come down the road, which is where the paper comes from.