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Tim Davie will crack down on staff who post their views on social media in an attempt to restore the BBC’s view as impartial, and raised the issue of cutting the corporation’s programming budget by as much as a fifth.
The new CEO said the BBC had to focus on fairness to address allegations of bias from politicians on both sides of the political divide.
“If you want to be a stubborn columnist or a partisan activist on social media, then that is a valid option, but you should not work for the BBC,” he said in a speech to the BBC’s Cardiff office staff. We urgently need to advocate and recommit to fairness. In the age of fake news, social media campaigns, echo opinion chambers, and noisy partisan media outlets, this is surely our time.
“Importantly, it is not just about left or right. It’s about being free from political biases. It’s more about whether people feel we see the world from their point of view. Our research shows that many perceive that we are shaped by a particular perspective. “
Davie also said there would be a crackdown on stars who use their BBC status to earn money working for private companies, and said there would be “clearer direction on the declaration of external interests.”
Davie also raised the possibility of a significant cut in the corporation’s production, saying that it had reached the peak of growth in traditional linear television.
“We are surrounded by global players with monster budgets,” he said. “We must choose our battles carefully and make sure we get the best return for limited money. We have been too slow to stop things that do not work. I want us to consider what we would do if we could only do 80% of our current hours.
“What would we stop? We have no short-term plans to shut down radio channels or networks. But I do believe that this moment marks the end of the BBC’s linear expansion. The evidence is unequivocal: the future of a universal BBC can no longer be taken for granted. We have no inalienable right to exist. We are only as good as the value we offer to our audience, to our clients. “
One of the key issues Davie faces is the future of the license fee as a financing model and ultimately what will replace it when the current royal statute ends in 2027.
Davie said he didn’t believe in a Netflix-style subscription model for the BBC. “We could do a decent business,” he said, “and I suspect it might work quite well in certain zip codes, but it would just turn us into another media company serving a specific group.”
