Parly’s new role in BBC charter
Every 10 or so years the BBC, as a public service broadcaster, must renew its charter with the government.
For the first time the Scottish Parliament has an advisory role and recently I took part in a debate welcoming the outcome as the BBC looks to the future.
The BBC is a valued and trusted institution. Its origins are rooted in the aims of educating, entertaining and informing its audience.
Generations have grown up watching and enjoying content we can often take for granted but is admired throughout the world. Yet the Beeb, founded in 1922, is now competing in a much changed media environment and a more competitive commercial market.
This brings big challenges for the organisation and the audience, but it also brings opportunities.
And that opportunity brings much to welcome from a Scottish point of view.
There will be a service licence agreement, a commitment to continued support for Gaelic, a dedicated board member and a significant new public purpose to reflect, represent and serve the nations and regions.
It has also been announced that Scotland will receive a new drama and comedy commissioners and a new drama development fund will be established.
Scotland will be identified as a BBC centre of excellence in factual production, placing us at the forefront of an organisation producing quality programming with a depth and breadth not matched by any other broadcaster.
We should be proud of where we are successful and taking a lead, and we should have the confidence and necessary investment to grow.
But all too often when the BBC is discussed by politicians the argument is over the licence fee – how much is raised in Scotland and how much is spent directly here.
Yet this argument completely misses the uniqueness of the BBC and fails to grasp the full scope of its reach in Scotland.
It is programming such as Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who, alongside Still Game and River City. It is Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, along with Radio Scotland. It is the iplayer and the website.
All loved by the audiences in Blackford as much as Blackburn, Comrie as much as Cardiff. A pick and mix solution of a federal BBC would leave us all poorer as an audience.
The BBC is built on shared values throughout the UK.
Its funding model, its founding principles, its innovation and commitment to quality give all of us as a country a public sector broadcaster that is unrivalled around the world, and that is to be valued.
When it was announced that the Great British Bake Off was moving from the BBC to Channel 4, fans rushed to social media to show their disappointment.
For many the BBC is something more than just another channel.
At a time when TV is moving to tablets and smartphones, when shows are streamed rather than watched live, the BBC still brings families together.
As we agree the charter that will cover the BBC’s 100th birthday, it is clear that it is still trusted, valued and loved.