BBC
1.Context
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has recently been facing some heat after the release of its documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’, with the Indian government calling the film a “propaganda piece” and accusing the broadcaster of having a “colonial mindset”.
2.About British broadcasting company
British broadcasting company was founded on October 18th 1922, in which only british manufacturers were allowed to hold shares
Initially company struggled to gain foothold in the industry, however it's fortunesturned around during 1926 general strike
The BBC's coverage was widely appreciated by the British population, which gave it a lifetime
Later the same year, a parliamentary committee recommended that the private company should be replaced by public, crown charted organisation, the British broadcasting corporation
This decision made company answerable to parliament, nut it had it's own freedom regarding it's actibvities
3.Operations of BBC
- BBC operates under royal charter, an instrument of incorporation granted by the ruling monarch, which makes it mandatory to obtain licence from the country's home secretary
- The charter has to be renewed every 10 years, current one will have a validity until December 31, 2027
- The charter illustrates objectives of the broadcast company
- It states that " BBC should provide impartial news, current affairs and factual programming to build people's understanding of all parts of United kingdom and the rest of the world
- Till 2017, the company was regulated by the BBC Trust, its executive board, and a government-approved regulatory authority, called Ofcam
- However, after an independent review in 2016, the trust was abolished as it was found to be “flawed”
- In the aftermath, while a BBC Board was set up to govern the company, Ofcam was given the sole responsibility of regulating it
- Meanwhile, the executive board oversees the day-to-day operations.
4.Revenue model of BBC
- Most of the funding of the BBC comes from an annual television fee charged to British entities with equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts.
- Apart from this, it also gets income from its commercial subsidiaries: BBC Studios and BBC Studioworks
- In 2022, the company suffered a major setback when the British government announced a freeze on the annual television fee for the next two years, which prevented the BBC from adjusting the cost according to inflation
- Not only this, the government also said that by 2027, it will abolish the fee completely.
- According to Guardian " BBC will continue to receive £3.2 billion a year in licence fee income, the costs of making its programmes are increasing rapidly due to rising inflation and competition from the likes of Netflix. As a result, the corporation will have to make hundreds of millions of pounds in spending cuts in order to balance its books"
5.BBC with UK government
- BBC has complete freedom to conduct its activities without any intervention from Parliament
- However, from time to time, it has been at loggerheads with the lawmakers, especially the conservatives, over several issues..
- For years, the right wing has accused it of having a “liberal” and “left-wing bias”
- During the tenure of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, many of her party members publicly denounced the BBC for “being biassed against her”
- It also faced criticism for doing an “anti-Brexit” coverage of the 2016 referendum.
- However, it isn’t only the conservatives who have criticised the broadcaster. During the 2019 general elections, supporters of former Labour Party Chief Jeremy Corbyn accused the BBC of favouring Boris Johnson
- he Left has also raised concerns regarding homophobia and transphobia within the company. In 2006, a University of Leeds study found that the BBC is “institutionally homophobic” towards “lesbians and gays, references to them, or related issues”
- In 2020, 150 people, including members of Parliament, signed a letter which said the BBC had engaged in “institutional discrimination” and failed to do balanced reporting about transgender issues
Source:indianexpress
