Policy & advocacy @mediareformUK @hackinginquiry. PhD press & broadcasting policy, lectured @Kingspol_econ @MediaComGold, future of PSB research @CardiffJOMEC
- Tweets 6,492
- Following 1,326
- Followers 1,256
- Likes 10,541
Pinned Tweet
We’re told the BBC belongs to all of us. In reality, we have no power over how 'our BBC' is run, governed or funded.
Now the BBC Charter review has begun, I've started Whose Beeb? to write about the politics & policy shaping the future of UK public media: whosebeeb.substack.com/p/gre…
1
3
2,897
Former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft has acquired a minority stake in Mirror publisher Reach dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/202…
81
There's nothing benign about uninterested ministers changing their stated policies every other media interview, while they shrug off the destructive cuts being made by BBC executives. It's entirely wilful neglect
While a handful of billionaires control our information and Farage plans not one, but two, Reform TV platforms the BBC is withering away through benign neglect app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/s…
1
4
5
440
Fine, but an unreformed BBC cannot be saved @arusbridger. A public media system fit for the digital age will cost a lot of money, a politically unsustainable amount unless we have a voice in the governance and operations of what is supposed to be our BBC. app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/s…
2
6
18
656
"We're all trying to find the guy who could do something about this"
“Income is falling and that means the cuts have to bite somewhere.”
@katierazz asks Lisa Nandy MP whether she is surprised by the “scale” of cuts at the BBC, with the Culture Secretary adding “through the Charter we are determined to put the BBC on a sustainable footing.”
2
202
Asleep at the wheel. Incredible complacency from this Government. The form public media takes will shape the political direction of the country.
“Income is falling and that means the cuts have to bite somewhere.”
@katierazz asks Lisa Nandy MP whether she is surprised by the “scale” of cuts at the BBC, with the Culture Secretary adding “through the Charter we are determined to put the BBC on a sustainable footing.”
2
28
147
11,085
Tom Chivers retweeted
What’s not clear is whether “sustainable” future funding in any way reverses the cuts being made now. They are so damaging to BBC News and the nations and regions that we seem at risk of losing some high-quality content for ever.
“Income is falling and that means the cuts have to bite somewhere.”
@katierazz asks Lisa Nandy MP whether she is surprised by the “scale” of cuts at the BBC, with the Culture Secretary adding “through the Charter we are determined to put the BBC on a sustainable footing.”
16
27
87
23,727
You can leave the BBC unreformed and cry crocodile tears about how sad it is that no one watches it. Or you can reform it, so that it becomes the keystone of a digital information architecture that supports and protects popular sovereignty. Those are the options.
1
4
6
235
Excellent conversation on the future of the BBC - and of UK media. Meanwhile the BBC and the government are pretending the issues raised here don't exist, and are trying to smuggle charter renewal through without a meaningful public debate about the corporation's future role.
“Has the BBC board failed?”
In light of more BBC job cuts, I talk to @TMChivers Dr Tom Chivers @mediareformUK – whose PhD was on the last BBC Charter Review about a “real moment of reckoning” for public service media.
🎧 Listen: podfollow.com/beebwatch
2
13
17
1,589
If the government cared about disinformation it would be figuring out how to reform the BBC and public media so it can provide citizens with an accurate picture of the world, in the face of foreign and domestic attempts to mislead. But it doesn't care, so we get this instead.
Security chiefs to set up new national centre to tackle disinformation and deepfakes from hostile states like Russia - with Andy Burnham saying government has a duty to “stem the poisonous tide” from damaging British interests.
National Centre for Information Defence will “detect, attribute and disrupt” info attacks by foreign powers by bringing together intelligence agencies, law enforcement & social media companies.
It will boost UK’s defensive capability to combat information warfare and build national resilience by helping communities combat disinfo, preventing “distorted & untrue” narrative about UK.
theguardian.com/technology/2…
4
35
61
1,856
A great pleasure to speak to Roger about Charter Review, John Whittingdale's failed BBC Board experiment & the Government's baffling indifference towards the BBC's many crises.
& thx for letting me plug our new book on a democratic BBC! @ta_mills @danhind orbooks.com/catalog/the-bbc/
“Has the BBC board failed?”
In light of more BBC job cuts, I talk to @TMChivers Dr Tom Chivers @mediareformUK – whose PhD was on the last BBC Charter Review about a “real moment of reckoning” for public service media.
🎧 Listen: podfollow.com/beebwatch
6
7
895
The GB News channel achieves a 0.77% viewing share. Alex is bragging that even amongst that dedicated audience, more than 25% don't believe GB News is trustworthy.
Wow.
@GBNEWS is now the UK’s most trusted news channel according to Ofcom’s own survey.
Establishment media must be pulling their hair out today.
1
282
Tom Chivers retweeted
So, after previous denials, this refuses to go away. Binning BBC local radio commentary (at least in terms of away games) MUST be fought at every turn. A vital service which compared to, say, one show’s fee for a TV studio pundit, costs relative pennies per season.
🚨EXCLUSIVE: MORE STRIFE AT BBC SPORT
❌Staff braced for redundancies on Wednesday
😡Strike action considered ahead of 'savings' summit
🔄More change under director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski
➗Department split over transformation
dailymail.com/sport/football…
12
32
241
54,429
Great that another group has joined the growing chorus calling for a mutualised BBC
But ‘the John Lewis model’ they propose is not genuine democratic control the public deserve, and exactly what @danhind @ta_mills & I argue against in our new book orbooks.com/catalog/the-bbc/
BBC to be 'mutualised' and licence fee scrapped for a new £11 monthly internet levy under @SMFthinktank plan inews.co.uk/news/bbc-licence… @38degrees @theipaper
3
9
14
3,654
More wonkily, the good chaps at the SMF have sadly fallen into the trap of proposing everyone(ish) pay for the BBC in exchange for a token cost cut. This leaves the BBC on its current course of stagnant funding after 15 years of a 40% real terms cut to its income
1
2
1
316
Have Your Say mutualism might suit a bank or a supermarket - but public media that exists to inform, educate and entertain us all as citizens can and should empower us active and direct participants in decisions that shape democratic society
1
134
Tom Chivers retweeted
Richard Morrison in @thetimes today: "300,000 people attended the 86 concerts of this summer’s BBC Proms. But one conspicuous absentee was Lisa Nandy. She has been culture secretary through three Proms seasons and hasn’t attended a single one of the 250 concerts in that time."
106
211
1,200
55,875
Tom Chivers retweeted
I couldn’t disagree with this more.
The view that ‘money is speech’ was behind the drive to open the floodgates in US politics. Now corruption happens breezily out in the open.
When will the right learn that people in the UK don’t want further yankification.
The problem with big money in British politics is that there isn't enough of it
@TheEconomist says this week that liberals who are outraged about Reform's cash bonanza should dig into their own pockets
Better funding is crucial to prepare opposition parties for power
3
3
13
1,738