Cuts and political pressure: the BBC’s difficulties during the years of Conservative governments

The BBC, a radio and television consortium unique in the world, was founded in 1922has gone through a difficult period. Over the last 14 years, marked by the mandate of five conservative governments, the institution has experienced one of the worst crises in its long century of existence. Only five years after its constitution, the corporation began to be financed by a fee paid by each owner of a receiver in the United Kingdom. Thanks to this system of income, the channel continues to be a benchmark for its independence and quality. Despite the cuts in funding applied during the mandates tories, and the pressures on its news line, the giant remains in shape.

Proof of the good health of this medium is that the populist candidate Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, declared last Saturday that he would not go on the radio station until he apologises to him. The reason? That he attended the programme the night before Question Time to answer questions from the public. One called him a racist and another asked why his party attracted extremists. Farage’s conclusion was that the public was leaning to the left. Nothing new for a corporation that had to defend its impartiality in the face of criticism from Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands War in 1982.

BBC television costs £169.5 (€199) a year in the UK. This is a mandatory fee paid by 24.4 million citizens for the mere fact of owning a television. This tax covers a large part of the salaries of its 22,000 employees and an unrivalled offer of news channels, television series, radio programmes and audios. But the Conservatives were cutting back on the corporation, as they did with the public services of health, transport and education.

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute, said via video conference from Oxford that the BBC itself estimates these cuts at around 30% of its budget. This forced the channel, according to Kleis Nielsen, to cut jobs “significantly” and restructure its content.

In addition to the cuts, the past year has seen a number of cataclysms come together against the giant’s feet. On the one hand, one of its star presenters, Huw Edwards, was embroiled in a sex scandal. On the other, competition from social media and digital platforms such as Netflix became more evident. There was also an exodus of iconic figures to competing media outlets, such as the broadcaster LBC. And two years earlier, the channel GB News emerged, clearly leaning to the right. Added to all this was the scandal involving former footballer Gary Lineker, presenter of the star football show, Match of the Day.

Lineker was removed from the show in March last year for comparing the language of Rishi Sunak’s government on migration issues to that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s on social media. A wave of commentators expressed solidarity with Lineker and the presenter was reinstated. With this case, the channel showed its vulnerability to the government, but also the strength and resilience of its employees.

“You will always face crises”

The director of the Reuters Institute believes that the institution has emerged very well from all these episodes. “The BBC is such a large, complicated and important institution that it will always face crises. But the fact that it remains a fundamental medium, despite funding cuts, is proof of the respect it inspires in British society.”

Amidst all the scandal, there was always the usual pressure from the government in power. In the 2019 elections, the then Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson, boycotted the programme Todayfrom Radio 4, belonging to the corporation, and threatened to decriminalize non-payment of the license fee. Kleis Nielsen plays down such threats from the executive: “Every few years, some minor politician or special adviser threatens the BBC, often at times when the government of the day might want it to be nice to them. But then nothing happens.”

Kleis Nielsen also does not believe that the appearance of the conservative channel GB News will erode the BBC’s audience or become what Fox is in the United States, the great reference for conservatives. The expert recalls that Fox News reached a conservative audience in the United States that did not have another major reference channel. “But the United Kingdom is well known for having a number of newspapers that are clearly politically positioned on the right. From the Daily Expressuntil the Daily Mailpassing through the Sun and the Daily Telegraph. All of these organisations have a very vibrant online presence and video sections. It’s a very competitive space. And GB News is just one player in this space.”

Nor does the director of the Reuters Institute see the brain drain as a major problem. Several of them have left for radio station LBC. “Part of the BBC’s role in the British media environment is to help talent develop and then let that talent wander off and go somewhere else. The BBC is perfectly capable of developing new talent.”

New challenges

Where Kleis Nielsen does see serious competition for the BBC is from the big digital companies, mostly American: Netflix, Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. “And increasingly, Amazon Prime and Disney plus.” This competitive pressure, he explains, is not something that is specific to the United Kingdom or that should be blamed on the management of the Conservatives. Although he points out: “If funding had not been cut, perhaps the BBC would be in a better position to compete with these American companies.”

The BBC has been around for a century, but the director of the Reuters Institute warns that there is no guarantee that the licence fee will continue indefinitely. And he points out that there are young people who do not follow the broadcaster much and may think that the fee is disproportionate. “It is a regressive tax. It doesn’t matter how much you earn, it doesn’t matter if you rent a room or live in a lovely terraced house in Chelsea; it doesn’t matter if there are one or five people living in a household. You pay the same. And for young people on limited incomes who live alone, this is a lot of money.”

Kleis Nielsen wonders whether the new Labour government that could emerge from the ballot box on Thursday will support the BBC as it faces these new American digital competitors. Or will it let it continue with the level of funding it has now, or even decide to cut it. The big corporation, the expert concludes, remains the most used news source in the United Kingdom. And it has almost three times the audience of its closest competitors, the channels ITV and Sky. “But nothing lasts forever. And any government, of any stripe, will have to take into account where people prefer their money to be spent.”

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