The BBC could be our best weapon against Trump, Musk and fake news, according to Guardian columnist Jane Martinson, who argues that a dynamic new strategy would allow the broadcaster to redefine what trusted news means in this age of anxiety.
Timing of Job Cuts Questioned
Timing is all, and the timing of last week's brutal job cuts at BBC News could have been better. Not only was director general Matt Brittin reportedly on holiday, but the announcement came straight after a new report showed social media platforms and AI chatbots had overtaken traditional TV channels and websites as people's first port of call for news.
The same Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report noted higher levels of global uncertainty and anxiety, caused not just by geopolitical instability, economic and environmental fears, but by a loss of trust in institutions and in the news itself.
A World of Misinformation
A world of misinformation, AI slop, and fake images has engendered a sense of powerlessness and doom. Bad actors use social media to incite riots and unrest on the streets, from Southampton to Belfast, while western governments desperately try to make up for years of refusing to regulate big tech by banning under-16s from using it.
Has there ever been more need for a public service organisation whose very remit insists on the provision of impartial, fact-based news?
Taking on Trump and Musk
The BBC should not only fight Trump's ludicrous Dr Evil-esque attempt to destroy it with a lawsuit but also take on his hissing pet cat, the world's richest man, Elon Musk, whose ownership of X has played a role in this age of anxiety. Given the failure of the government to stand up to these two, what better weapon than the BBC to take them on?
Trust in news in general has fallen by three percentage points to 37% in the past year alone, dipping below 40% for the first time. However, trust in specific news brands has remained the same. The BBC is still consistently cited as the most trusted news brand globally and in the UK.
Need for Fact-Based Reporting
So now is not the time to cut hundreds of jobs from a news department that we need to provide fact-based reporting and eyewitness accounts. In explaining the cuts, part of trying to save £500m in three years, Brittin did not blame political settlements since 2010 but the need to meet audiences where they are.
So goodbye to thoughtful daily analysis on Radio 4's The World Tonight and hello to more video on YouTube.
A Vision for the Future
But Brittin, a man who until recently ran the European arm of YouTube's parent company, is unlikely to launch a social media channel any time soon. The BBC's technology is ageing and outdated. Its annual R&D budget of about £15m is barely enough for just one of Musk's alimony settlements.
It needs to offer a vision of the future. Some inside the BBC, while sad about the cuts, are more concerned that radical, creative thinking has been in short supply since the digital switchover.
What about taking a lead in providing trustworthy information to young people and the sort of hyper-local news that every survey suggests licence fee payers appreciate but which the market has failed to provide? The need for local news in the UK is great and growing.
Expanding Local News
One of the many costs forced on the corporation by successive Conservative governments was taking £8m per year of the licence fee to support local newspapers, effectively a public donation to those hit hard by the internet and profit-driven news. Why not expand that scheme and bring it back inside the BBC, which could offer many different ways to reach viewers and readers?
With big tech megaliths so much wealthier and more powerful than many nation states, let alone news organisations, many are turning to collaborative efforts. Just look at Project Spur, which unites the BBC with the Guardian and the Telegraph in their quest to protect journalism from AI.
New Social Media Effort
Old BBC hands are scarred by the failure of Project Kangaroo, an attempt to set up a for-profit technology platform for public broadcasting content, kiboshed by competition concerns. But a new social media effort is not a bad idea, perhaps with a more UK-facing name.
This isn't about doing more with less, that old consultant cliche that never worked, but about trying new ways to not just survive but beat the odds. Audiences don't want more news; if anything, they can't cope with the amount they've got. But they still value good-quality, trusted, impartial news. It's just much harder to find.
Funding for Young Audiences
As for young people, the public service value of informing the next generation of voters is obvious. News rivals will hate this suggestion, but what if the BBC approached the government for specific financial support to deliver trusted, entertaining content in this next charter period? It could be like the content it provided during Covid via Bitesize and other projects.
Last year, more than half of 18- to 24-year-olds sourced their news from social media, video networks, and AI chatbots. Since the Foreign Office used to pay for the World Service, why can't the Department for Education fund a social network for children via the BBC?
Need for Ambition and Creativity
The BBC may think doing deals with big tech and nurturing its own creators is the only way forward, rather than just an option. But if this week has proved anything, it's that it needs to be more ambitious and more creative, not less.
