Join the campaign to save the BBC News Channel and BBC World News
The BBC is to close them down, with the loss of 70 journalists, and create a new channel by next April
We are calling on Ofcom to hold and inquiry and have a public consultation. This is a major change and the BBC should not be able to try to do it under the radar and without consultation. It’s an insult to BBC staff and licence fee payers.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said:
“BBC News Channel is hugely successful in providing news from all parts of the UK – and its packages and interviews are used throughout the whole network. It has a special role in covering stories across the devolved nations and its audience is more diverse, across all categories, than BBC One or the other BBC channels. Many local stories will be lost if they have to compete with international events for airtime.
“BBC World News has a weekly audience of about 364 million people around the globe – so why close it? Under the proposals, for overseas viewers the new channel will still carry adverts. How can licence fee money be spent on a commercial project? This must surely have implications for competition.
“Creating a new channel will inevitably diminish the overall breath and diversity of content, and for UK licence-fee payers this could have a direct effect on democracy. That is why the NUJ is calling for the BBC News Channel and BBC World News to remain as two distinct channels. The BBC needs to be much more upfront about the plans and we expect Ofcom to play a full role in protecting the service licence fee payers deserve and expect, and which are part of the BBC’s remit.”
The union is asking members to:
- Sign the Save the BBC News Channel petition.
- Write to their MP and other elected representatives.
- Hold a branch meeting to plan getting involved with the campaign.
- Download the briefing and template letter.
News
NUJ welcomes watchdog’s role in assessing a new channel to replace BBC News and BBC World News
