Amol Rajan, the BBC Radio 4 Today show presenter, has called for urgent action to save the UK national broadcaster from an existential emergency.
In a blistering speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday, Rajan argued that the BBC is “screwed” unless there is a radical rethink of its funding and governance.
Rajan has worked for BBC News for a decade, but will exit the corporation next week to launch an online media venture, The Amol Rajan Connection. He will continue to host University Challenge, the long-running BBC quiz show.
In his valedictory address, Rajan attacked successive governments for mismanaging the BBC by repeatedly reviewing its operations without properly addressing the forces that are contributing to its decline.
“The phrase managed decline is far too generous,” Rajan said. “When it comes to the actions of British governments in recent years, there hasn’t even been any managing. I want everyone here, and beyond, to wake up to the reality of the BBC’s finances. This is the unvarnished truth.
“A recent Enders Analysis report showed that licence fee income has fallen by 28% in the past 15 years. The BBC has cut costs by 15%. It’s found £1.5 billion in savings, and is on target to find another £500 million. Revenues tumbling; costs rising. This equation cannot last. You cannot cut your way to growth.
“To understand how screwed the BBC is, you just have to understand compounding. Last year, 539,000 fewer people paid the Licence Fee. The year before, it was 300,000 – massive even then. What if this year, the number is 800,000?”
Rajan said this “catalogue of accelerating decline” is a “foreseeable” emergency, which is now resulting in chastening content and staff cuts.
“When it comes to the BBC, we have not had ‘benign neglect.’ We have had a kind of ‘malicious neglect,’” he said. “In the case of the BBC, the consequences are clear. These cuts are just the beginning; there is worse to come; the finances are much worse than most people even here realise.”
The former BBC News media correspondent continued: “What we need is political leadership … Make a decision. Stop dithering. This could not be more urgent.”
“I just cannot bear to watch as bureaucratic inertia, witless pablum, and unforgivable dithering and delay cause a noble institution to rot and decay, not with a bang, but a whimper. Of course the BBC makes many errors; but keep these in proportion. Of course, some journalists among the thousands at BBC News have some biases, but keep these in proportion too.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually have more respect – intellectually if not morally – for the Defund the BBC crowd who, though I disagree with their position intellectually, at least have a position with which to disagree.”
The BBC is currently in talks with the government over its next charter, which will establish its funding and operating model for many years to come. In other words, it is the ideal time for radical thinking about the BBC’s future.
Rajan threw his weight behind one solution: Turning the BBC into a mutual that is owned by the British public who pay a licence fee in exchange for shares in the corporation.
“Under the mutual model, it actually would belong to all of us. If run properly, like all the best mutuals, the BBC would be tasked with growing revenue. And if some portion of it was available to the right outside investors, the BBC could raise capital that could either be reinvested for the long-term, as with many endowment funds, or deployed in pursuit of growth and a return on that investment.”
Rajan noted that Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has herself endorsed the idea of a BBC mutual. “What is it about actually being in a position of power to do something about your plans that stops British politicians doing those things?” he asked. “What is it about government that promotes process over action?”
Rajan will present his final Today show next Wednesday.
