We can’t let the Tories burn the BBC to the ground
Just over a week ago I found myself having to go very old school in order to keep up with the FA Cup third round. I managed to dig out the old radio in my parents’ kitchen, tuned it to BBC Radio Tees and then fiddled around with the antenna trying to find a signal.
It only took a couple of moments before the crackling disappeared and the Middlesbrough v Mansfield match came through. If I hadn’t thought about grabbing the radio I would have been left anxiously refreshing the BBC Sport app to follow along with the score.
That or have to fork out to pay for commentary via Boro’s website. But thankfully I could follow all the action as it happened thanks to Radio Tees.
I thought about this as I saw the Daily Mail’s front page on Sunday, promoted by Nadine Dorries, which basically suggested that the licence fee will be scrapped in five years.
The so-called culture secretary was gleefully harping on about tearing apart one of this country’s greatest institutions.
Whatever you may think of BBC News’s political coverage – it is so much more than that. It is BBC Bitesize, a study aid that I remember using growing up, it is BBC Sounds, BBC iPlayer, the Proms and the list goes on.
But because they’ve dared to publish negative stories about our Dear Leader all of this just has to be burnt to the ground.
It was particularly ironic that Nadine Dorries decided to use ‘the days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences’ for not paying the licence fee as one of the reasons for her decision.
Remind me again which government decided to scrap free licences for the over-75s?
I’m not saying people can’t have legitimate gripes about having to pay it, but we often get so caught up in the BBC News side of things we lose sight of just how much more the BBC actually offers us. I have subscriptions for Netflix and Amazon and so-on, but aside from a few shows and movies what do I actually get out of them?
If we let this government sacrifice the BBC in the name of brazen politics, then it will be a very, very sad day. One we will live to regret, I suspect.