Ministers set to toughen BBC rules over impartiality and complaints

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Ministers have set out plans to toughen the BBC’s governance and impartiality regime after concluding that the public lacked confidence in the UK public broadcaster’s complaints processes.

The BBC has come under fire in recent months over its reporting of the war in Gaza and the use of social media by some of its stars, such as the criticism of government policy by Gary Lineker, its highest-paid presenter. 

The corporation, which has admitted making mistakes in its coverage of the conflict in the Middle East, receives objections from all sides, with its most recent fortnightly complaints list highlighting viewers’ concerns over programmes being too pro- and anti-Israel.

Some of the harshest criticism in recent years following the 2016 Brexit referendum has come from the ruling Conservatives, with the government of Boris Johnson especially vocal in questioning the corporation’s purpose and funding.

In a review of the BBC’s governance, the government said that impartiality was an “ongoing issue for audiences, with concerns about the broadcaster’s objectivity making up the majority of complaints about the BBC’s editorial content”. It highlighted a lack of public confidence in the way the BBC handled complaints, in particular.

As a result, ministers have proposed greater independent scrutiny of its complaints handling. The BBC board would have a new legally binding responsibility to oversee the broadcaster’s complaints-handling process to ensure concerns were being “fairly considered”. Previously, its responsibility was limited to overseeing the establishment of the complaints process.

The non-executive board directors and external advisers on the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines and standards committee would be given greater powers to scrutinise and challenge senior management. Another change would see the head of complaints handling report directly to director-general Tim Davie rather than the director responsible for editorial policy.

With more news delivered online, the remit of regulator Ofcom will be extended to parts of the organisation’s digital services, including the BBC News website. It will also be given a new legally binding responsibility to review more of the BBC’s complaints decisions.

The government’s midterm review — published on Monday — evaluates the effectiveness of the governance and regulatory arrangements introduced by the BBC charter in 2017.

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer said the reforms would “improve accountability while boosting public confidence in the BBC’s ability to be impartial and respond to concerns raised by licence fee payers”.

The BBC said that no other organisation took “its commitment to impartiality more seriously”. It added: “We have well-established and detailed plans to sustain and further improve standards . . . we proposed and implemented a number of reforms, including strengthening our complaints procedures, which now form part of the conclusions.”

The government also proposed the BBC “meaningfully” engage with its competitors, such as radio stations and local newspapers, when considering a change to its services.

Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association, which represents newspapers, said: “By needlessly boosting its digital local news offering, at the expense of much-loved local radio services, the BBC threatens to crush commercial local news publishers who cannot be expected to compete with the might of the licence fee.”

The government has also urged the BBC to better reflect diverse views and opinions in decision-making and improve engagement with underserved audience groups.