now, the uk s media regulator ofcom has published a major review of what the bbc does, particularly focussed on three areas how the bbc deals with complaints, how the bbc approaches impartiality and how the bbc defines the services that it offers people in the uk. needless to say, how the bbc takes the advice of the regulator, how the regulator shapes the future of the bbc directly impacts on everyone who consumes its content and also interacts with it as an institution. let s understand first of all more about what ofcom wants. let s hearfrom kevin backhurst, group director of content and media policy. and, kevin, reading your review today, you sound a little underwhelmed by how the bbc explains itself. tell us why. i think we feel that the bbc should
absolutely strive all the time to explain itself to audiences and to viewers, and also to be transparent to the audiences who pay the licence fee, and also to the rest of the creative industries around the uk about what it is planning, how it is approaching programming, how it is delivering its mission, its publics purposes. its public purposes. ofcom s role essentially is to make sure the bbc delivers what parliament has set out for the bbc, which is its public purposes, which are across things like delivering things like impartial news, learning content, at its most distinctive and creative it should be. secondly, we have a role, which is probably possibly better known, which is about securing content standards on airfor the bbc. the third one is we need to make sure anything that the bbc does is carefully considered in terms of its impact on competitors, and there is an effective competition. so, we start from that point. kevin, before we talk to the other guests, let s get into spe
Ofcom under fire for BBC links in wake of Bashir scandal
Questions come as ministers prepare a fresh governance crackdown on the broadcaster
5 June 2021 • 9:54pm
The Martin Bashir scandal has prompted calls for the media regulator to overhaul a board scrutinising the BBC because more than half its members have links to the broadcaster.
Of the 17 members on Ofcom’s content board that advises the watchdog on TV and radio standards, 11 have previously worked for the BBC.
There is no suggestion the board has acted improperly, but its membership poses questions about the level of independent scrutiny of the organisation.