The BBC Issue: CORPORATION TACKS

by Paul Waugh | Media

The slebs and stars have come out in full support for the BBC today as the Corporation tacks a tricky path against the winds of change coming from the Tory government.

The Telegraph reports that Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench and David Attenborough are among a galaxy of actors and presenters warning David Cameron that a ‘diminished BBC would simply mean a diminished Britain’.

That’s a deliberate echo of the words of Director General Tony Hall and the open letter to the PM is just the latest salvo in the battle for the BBC’s charter renewal. Hall was getting his retaliation in first ahead of the publication tomorrow of the Green Paper which will set out options for reform, not least the idea that the BBC shouldn’t focus on overly-popular programmes such as Strictly or Bake Off.

Hall was shrewd enough to wider his political attack to point out that “After all, the last time politicians tried to be creative, we ended up with the Millennium Dome.” Still, Chris Bryant last night warned that the BBC was ‘under seige’ and said John Whittingdale’s plan could result in ‘posh TV at the public expense’. 

The PM knows that he can’t undermine the BBC’s global reputation or pit himself against its huge public popularity, but he and George Osborne are certainly targeting that bottom line.

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* Paul Waugh, is the Executive Editor, Politics, HuffPost UK.