The BBC like the NHS is a unique and precious British Institution.  For Britain it is a huge part of our sense of nationhood - a public forum for entertainment, debate and information, at home and around the world. At times of national crisis and joy, most of us turn to it. During Covid 19 it is providing invaluable in depth information and debate. Post Brexit, in the age of ‘Global Britain’, it is a source of soft power, and gives us a respected and admired profile abroad - many other countries would love to enjoy what we take for granted: an advertising-free space of programming excellence! 

THE BBC COSTS US 43 PENCE A DAY! PLEASE DON’T ALLOW OUR NATIONAL TREASURE TO BE DISMANTLED. The BBC'S PUBLIC FUNDING HAS ALREADY BEEN CUT BY 31% SINCE 2010. IF WE ALLOW IT TO BE DIMINISHED SLOWLY AND STEALTHILY, I BELIEVE WE WILL LIVE TO REGRET IT.

Please email UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden at enquiries@dcms.gov.uk to insist on inflation proof funding for the BBC from now on. NO MORE CUTS! And tell him what the BBC means to you and the UK. 

The Culture Secretary has now set up an advisory panel on future of public service broadcasting in UK. The panel will consider:

'whether the concept of public service broadcasting is still needed, and, if so, what a modern PSB system should contribute to economic, cultural and democratic life across the United Kingdom' 

how it should be delivered and

'whether the current funding model for PSB is sustainable in the longer term and remains fit for purpose' 

But Mr Dowden has packed the panel with a highly impartial array of media 'heavyweights' [his words]. The panel will bring 'to bear members’ personal experience and expertise on the policy debates'

Panel members include:

The head of Facebook Europe,

David Cameron’s former press secretary Gabby Bertin

Sir Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former director of communications, a fierce critic of the BBC, who’s helping set up the forthcoming news channel GB News;

Conservative MP Andrew Griffith, an ex executive at Sky.

And Conservative peer, former BBC chairman Michael Grade, who has said in an interview with the Guardian's media editor that the era of impartial TV news is coming to an end in UK: “I don’t see why the Daily Mail shouldn’t have its own news channel with its point of view... We are moving inevitably toward relaxing the rules on impartiality."

The views of Michael Grade are so dangerous, I believe, for the health of our media and democracy in this country. And there is NOTHING INEVITABLE ABOUT ENDING THE ERA OF IMPARTIAL NEWS BROADCASTING IN THIS COUNTRY.  IT WOULD BE A CONSCIOUS DECISION OF THE UTMOST RECKLESSNESS.

We have just seen an election in the USA conducted in the most toxic media landscape, full of fake news, lies, conspiracy theories and misinformation. We are in the midst of a pandemic where truthful information can literally be a matter of life and death. In the USA, hyper partisan TV and radio channels dominate and polarize debate, exacerbate divisions in society, and people are receive much of their news and information from Facebook groups and other social media.

The BBC is used by over 90% of the UK population each week and is still by far the most trusted provider of news in the UK. It has been an invaluable source of information and guidance in the Covid crisis. It is mandated under its charter to guide the public in emergencies.  BBC reporters work under an ethos of fact checked, accurate journalism.  It allows a plurality of opinions and is a forum for debate, but that does not mean that truth is sidelined. THE BBC IS NOT PERFECT (what large national organisation is?) BUT IT IS INDISPENSABLE!

IT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER, I BELIEVE, THAT THE GENERAL PUBLIC DEFEND THE BBC OR RISK LOSING IT IN ITS PRESENT FORM.  Please spread the word among family, friends and colleagues and email members of Parliament to defend the BBC and the concept of impartial, regulated national public service broadcasting. 

It's so easy to lobby MPs - just use the email address formula:

firstname.surname.mp@parliament.uk

To look up the names of MPs on the  Department of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee please visit:

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/378/digital-culture-media-and-sport/membership

To look up and lobby the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee’s 13 members [who deal with BBC matters] please visit:

http://committees.parliament.ukhttps://committees.parliament.uk/committee/170/communications-and-digital-committee/membership/ 

PLEASE EVERYONE LOBBY:

your MPs,

the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, email:

enquiries@dcms.gov.uk

Julian Knight MP chair of the DCMS Select Committee, email:

julian.knight.mp@parliament.uk

members of the DCMS Select Committee

and the 13 members of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee!  at https://t.co/Bg8BcRsgoo?amp=1

STAND UP FOR THE BBC AND IMPARTIAL, WELL REGULATED UK NATIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - OUR HEALTH AND THE HEALTH OF OUR DEMOCRACY DEPEND UPON IT!

Thank you so much for your support.

Please insist on the survival of an institution that helps define to us and to the wider world what it means to be British, and to live in a free and democratic country with access to independently gathered and fact checked information.

For just 43 pence a day - less than a second class stamp - we can enjoy unrivalled in depth news reporting from home and around the world, spectacular wild life programmes with the glorious participation of David Attenborough, great soaps and entertainment like Eastenders and Strictly, and innovative drama like Normal People, I May Destroy You and comedy like Fleabag.  We have 40 local radio stations keeping listeners in touch with information in the Covid 19 emergency, an informative website, education, information and enjoyment from Radio 4, BBC 2 and 4, the musical delights of Radios 6 and 3. For young adults we have BBC 3 and CBeebies for children - high quality, independent and innovative TV, radio and online programmes. The BBC has 5 orchestras and each year puts on the largest classical musical festival, The Proms.

UNLIKE STREAMING SERVICES LIKE NETFLIX AND AMAZON, THE BBC IS MANDATED TO GUIDE THE PUBLIC IN EMERGENCIES LIKE COVID 19.

PLEASE DON'T LET HOSTILE POLITICIANS, PRESS AND MEDIA RIVALS DESTROY THIS UNIQUE BRITISH ASSET AND ACCOMPLISHMENT!

The organisation Defund the BBC, claims to have raised £60,000 in donations in less than 3 months from last June through 'crowdfunding'. It is using the money to create campaign material including billboards, merchandise and advertisements across social media. It has 3 main aims:

1.to raise awareness of the legal implications of cancelling a TV licence and to guide people as to how to do so

2.to urge the government to decriminalise non-payment of the licence fee 

3.to lobby for the compulsory annual levy to be reduced to the lowest possible level in the BBC’s mid-charter review in 2022.

If non-payment of the licence fee is decriminalised, the BBC stands to lose £300m initially and £200m of funding a year leading to savage cuts. Critics and rivals of the BBC claim it could be funded by advertising or subscription, but this simply does not add up.

Advertising revenue on TV is diminishing as digital platforms compete for it.  If the BBC had to compete with UK commercial channels for it, those channels and the corporation would suffer huge cuts to their funds.  The unique nature of BBC advert-free broadcasting would be destroyed.  The advert-free BBC has not hindered the development of streaming services and other channels.  The UK has a unique mixed ecology that allows creative risk taking and causes all other media to invest more and therefore already works overwhelmingly in consumers’ interests.

The subscription model does not work on radio or on free-to-air television systems such as Freeview. A full subscription model would rely on everyone receiving their media only through broadband, and that is a very distant prospect. Even if those problems were eventually overcome, can you imagine what would happen if the BBC had to battle better-funded US streaming giants for subscription revenue? 

Streaming services like Netflix provide excellent entertainment, but they cannot provide in depth news and information from around the world like the BBC.

The licence fee is the best way of funding a nationwide public service and provides excellent value.  Can you imagine life with a withered BBC - a media ecosystem dominated by hyper-partisan TV stations like Fox News or radio stations privately owned by those who have long wanted to diminish if not destroy the BBC?

THE AIMS OF THE DEFUNDERS, HOSTILE POLITICIANS AND LONG-STANDING MEDIA RIVALS IS TO CREATE, BIT BY BIT, AN ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH IT BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE TO DEFEND THE LICENCE FEE, AND THUS TO DEFEND PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING BY THE BBC.

PLEASE DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN! LOBBY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE CULTURE SECRETARY OLIVER DOWDEN AND THE CHAIR OF THE CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT SELECT COMMITTEE JULIAN KNIGHT. 

They can be emailed at:

boris.johnson.mp@parliament.uk

enquiries@dcms.gov.uk (for Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden)

julian.knight.mp@parliament.uk

YOU CAN ALSO LOBBY YOUR MP BY EMAIL USING THIS SAMPLE FORMAT AND INSERTING YOUR OWN MP's names:

first name.surname.mp@parliament.uk

To find out your MP's name, simply enter your postcode in this link:  https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons

PLEASE ACT NOW! Thank you for your support.