Mark Damazer is a former controller of Radio 4, Deputy Director of BBC News, BBC trustee, writer, commentator, and chair of the Booker Prizes. We spoke to him about the BBC’s plans for its international audio services, the challenges of monetising content overseas, the implications for the BBC’s global reach and influence, the value of its radio archive, the future of public service broadcasting, and the role of consultation and vision in shaping the BBC’s direction.

There's still quite a lot that's been lost, and you feel really quite strongly; they've been making it up as they go along, and they've had a lot of trouble communicating to these audiences outside the UK, interested in BBC audio, what it is that they're actually doing.

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Robin Aitken is a former BBC journalist, author, and contributor to The Daily Telegraph. In this episode, he discusses his chapter in the book "The BBC: After the licence fee?"

We discuss the BBC’s internal culture, its approach to impartiality, the representation of religious perspectives, its coverage of events such as Brexit, audience trust in the BBC and factors affecting licence fee payments.

“There is an assumption in the BBC, broadly speaking, that public is always better than private; that a social democratic government anywhere in the world is always going to be preferable to what the BBC often terms ‘Far Right,’ and the way that they use those terms is itself such a giveaway.”

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Dr. Alice Donald, Professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University, is one of the author's of a report that was recently published this week from the Bonavero Institute at Oxford University on media coverage of the European Convention on Human Rights.

We examine the findings of the report, the prevalence and impact of misreporting, the role of the convention in areas beyond immigration, the political debate surrounding potential withdrawal and the impact on the Good Friday Agreement, and the responsibilities of public service journalism in informing the public.

The fact that his son liked British chicken nuggets had no bearing on the case, that it was nowhere near strong enough evidence to mean that the man shouldn't be deported. So, a) it wasn't the basis, and b) the decision was overturned anyway. But it continued to be reported.

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Professor John Wyver, Professor of Arts on Screen at the University of Westminster, joins us to discuss his involvement in the recent campaign opposing changes to access at the BBC Written Archive Centre.

We explore the archive’s purpose, the proposed access restrictions and their impact, the consultation process, potential alternative solutions, and the broader challenges facing public service broadcasting and the arts at the BBC.

There is no public catalogue of this archive, which seems to me is totally extraordinary for such an important repository. But also, some two-thirds of this archive have not been made available for anybody to research, so two-thirds of it remains closed in secret.

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Catherine Johnson, Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Leeds, is co-author of the report Behind the screen, how streaming is changing public service media, which was published this week and produced by the University of Leeds, the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT), the Campaign for the Arts and the Sandford St Martin Trust.

We discuss its findings and the challenges in measuring public service programming on streaming platforms, refusal of data by public service broadcasters, discoverability and personalisation issues, the decline in certain genres, the impact on independent producers, recommendations for improving transparency and accountability, the role of government and regulators and incentivising PSBs to broaden content.

“I said, at an event recently, "We've got 10 years to save public service media." And someone from the sector came back and said, "No, we've got three years to save public service media."”

Read the full report here: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/229430/

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crowdfunding page:

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Richard Ayre is a former controller of editorial policy and deputy chief executive of BBC News, before becoming a member of the BBC Trust. Richard is also a former member of the OFCOM content board.

In this week's episode, we discuss the BBC's Gaza documentary scandal, the MasterChef presenter dismissals, criticism from the Culture Secretary and OFCOM, challenges to BBC editorial oversight and the corporation's annual report.

“It’s outrageous that the Secretary of State lifts the phone and demands answers from the Director General."

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Marcus Ryder, CEO of the Film and TV Charity and former head of current affairs at BBC Scotland, discusses the recent Greg Wallace controversy, workplace behaviour, mental health, and power dynamics in the film and television industry.

"The very fact that so many people have come forward means that there's a large number of people who, up until recently, were experiencing something that they felt they couldn't properly talk about."

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The Voice of the Listener and Viewer conference held at the end of April featured a session with Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s Director of Nations. He spoke about the BBC’s storytelling and regional production, and was then questioned by the session’s chair — VLV Trustee, Classic FM presenter, and former BBC Radio 4 World Tonight presenter, Ritula Shah. Together, they explored challenges in TV production and co-production partnerships, tax credits and charter renewal, local radio, decentralising production, universality and the BBC’s mission, funding and the future of the BBC, as well as the BBC’s culture review and how it is addressing misconduct.

View and listen to the whole session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP4g1oVCv-I

Subscribe to the VLV here: https://vlv.org.uk/

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