Public Service Broadcasting

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – in the House of Commons at on 16 September 2021.

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Photo of John Martin McDonnell John Martin McDonnell Labour, Hayes and Harlington

What steps she is taking to strengthen and promote public service broadcasting.

Photo of Matt Warman Matt Warman The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Public service broadcasting remains critical to the UK’s media landscape, and the Government are committed to ensuring that it continues to thrive. We will present proposals in the form of a broadcasting White Paper to update the existing public service broadcasting framework later this year.

Photo of John Martin McDonnell John Martin McDonnell Labour, Hayes and Harlington

I admit I was hoping that the Secretary of State would answer this question so that I could say “from one red to another”, although maybe not in the full range of meaning of that term. I am the secretary of the National Union of Journalists parliamentary group. NUJ members are concerned about the future of public broadcasting, because of the sale of Channel 4, because of the 25% cut that has already been incurred at the BBC and because of reports that the Government are considering refusing even an inflation-rate increase in the BBC licence fee. Will the Minister meet a delegation from the NUJ parliamentary group to discuss these concerns?

Photo of Matt Warman Matt Warman The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

As a former member of the NUJ myself, it would be churlish to refuse.