BBC under assault
The Government is contemplating a root and branch shake up of the BBC’s operations, including its possible break up and loss of independence, The Sunday Times reports.
The paper says in the wake of Lord Hutton’s judicial inquiry the Government is weighing up dismantling the Beeb into separate regional entities for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Lord Hutton severely rebuked the BBC following defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan’s allegations that someone in Downing Street doctored a key intelligence report on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction to boost the case for war against Iraq.
Plans have been drawn up by “senior civil servants” in a paper entitled BBC Charter Review to remove the editorial independence from the Corp’s board of governors, with the prospect of a government media watchdog in the Commons overseeing the BBC’s output.
This may entail the relinquishing of the BBC’s Royal Charter.
With the BBC’s charter up for renewal in 2006, The Sunday Times says it now appears “that ministers are planning to capitalise on the BBC’s current weakness to press home massive reforms.”
Other plans mooted include the sharing of some of the BBC’s GBP2.6 billion a year licence fee revenue with other broadcasters.
