Speech by Tessa Jowell, to the Royal Television Society

It's a delight to see so many of you here this evening, resisting the temptation to be at the premiere of Lord of the Rings.

Although occasionally the heated debate about the BBC suggests that for some the BBC review is as good a story about the struggle between good and evil as the works of Tolkein.

I'm grateful to the Royal Television Society for giving me this opportunity to launch this, the Review of the BBC's Royal Charter, and the set of questions about the BBC's future that I promised to publish before the end of the year.

Today I want to outline:

- The unique context of this Charter Review – an uncertain and rapidly changing broadcasting environment

- The need for a strong BBC at the centre of that environment

- The unprecedented scale of public engagement and consultation that we're planning

- Some of the key questions that we want answered

The BBC is currently three years from the end of its present Charter. It's the 7th since the first granted in 1927.

Every single one was the subject of a Charter Review, and of course there have been many other major reviews of aspects of the BBC's activities.

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The Pace of Change

The consultation we are launching today takes place in the context of a rapidly changing broadcast environment.

By the time the January sales are over more than 50% of UK homes will have digital TV in some form, and I hope that Digital Radio does even better this Christmas than last.

There are now more than 2.6 million broadband subscribers, with subscriptions rising by 40,000 a week, introducing further competition to conventional TV.

With half of all homes now on the internet the broadband market will grow even more rapidly in future.

We can see DVDs flying out of shops, one of the fastest take-up rates of any domestic product. Sky Plus is also selling well. People will increasingly customise their viewing.

And in the near future archives will become more available, so today's TV and radio output will have to compete with offerings from the past.

As a result the BBC's reach and share are declining albeit by less than many would have predicted.

There will be fundamental shifts in the way people receive and make use of broadcasting, through PVRs, the internet, maybe even mobile phones.

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The Audience in Charge

We can't know exactly where all this change will take us. If any of us knew, we'd now be as rich as Bill Gates and sitting somewhere in the sun rather than here in London in a grey December.

But we can say that viewers cannot be treated the way they were in the past, with limited choice for their viewing on a small number of channels.

Increasingly, people choose what they want. They are becoming their own schedulers.

They will use their screens for much more than conventional broadcasting.

They will not watch things because they are deemed to be good for them, but because they want to watch them.

The days of castor oil television are a long way behind us.

So the consultation I am launching today is the first properly democratic, people-focused review of the BBC.

The new Charter that emerges must deliver the things that people want, and the BBC that emerges must be one that has the broadest possible support.

There is no place for a patrician BBC in the viewer-empowered future.

Past reviews have reflected their times.

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It was usually the great and the good considering what was good for people, and then offering it on a take it or leave it basis.

This review will be different. The driving force will be the views and questions of the British people.

That's right, because through the Licence Fee they are in effect the BBC's shareholders.

And it's right because we are moving into a world where the viewer has the power to make their own choices.

So if there is a single underlying theme for this review it is "positioning the BBC for the digital age".

We will ask: what do the people want from their BBC?

Flowing from that we ask questions about the effectiveness and efficiency of the Corporation, its funding, governance and regulation. We ask also about its market impact.

The BBC's Role in the Media Ecology

Of course we do not start with a blank sheet of paper.

In many ways the BBC has served the nation well. As a result it is part of our national identity.

Its impact on the media ecology has been, and continues to be, profound.

One argument for the scale of the BBC is that its presence pushes up the standard for other broadcasters.

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We have to ask now how well they have done that, the extent to which that role needs to continue, and how it should be done in the multi-channel world.

One of the most important areas for setting standards has been news.

Over the decades people have felt that the BBC's news coverage was something they could put their faith in, that it was a Gold Standard.

Polls and other surveys of opinion all report that people trust their broadcast news – ITN and Sky as well as the BBC – far more than they trust newspapers.

During the last election campaign, more than 70% of people said they trusted TV news to give them balanced and honest coverage. Only 16% said the same of national newspapers.

When people buy newspapers they know they are buying opinion. When they turn on the radio or TV they expect to get their news straight.

This balance is vital. No significant part of this mosaic can be removed without major implications for everyone else.

Having such a reputation places an even greater responsibility upon the BBC to maintain high standards of editorial independence.

There needs to be constant recognition of the distinction between the way newspapers approach the news and the objectivity that must be the hallmark of the Corporation.

Our whole framework for media regulation – set out in the Comms Act – relies on there being a strong and independent BBC at the heart of the media.

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We are able to withstand what are sometimes clarion calls for much tougher regulation of the press because we know people can generally rely on the strong impartiality and accuracy obligations on the BBC and other broadcasters.

People understand the difference between TV news and newspapers – and they look to TV as the trusted news source. This holds all the more true in a climate of increasing media literacy.

One of the reasons we were able to deregulate so comprehensively – for example in the field of foreign media ownership – was that we knew that the BBC would remain a bulwark of quality and standards, free at point of delivery to everyone with a universal service obligation.

So, while I accept that rapid change means that we must consider how the BBC should be adapted for the future, one certain outcome of the review will be a strong BBC, independent of Government, and with the courage to be editorially autonomous.

What does 'strong' mean? That's a subject that will no doubt prompt much debate during the consultation, but it should include a judgement about the scale, range and capacity to influence the output of others by its presence. It's linked back to the BBC's role in the media ecology.

We now need to test that kind of idea out with the public.

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Process

Phase one starts today, based on this very broad consultation document – The Review of the BBC's Royal Charter. The consultation period will last until the end of March.
By the end of autumn we should complete the second phase, where we bring together all the many strands of review and consultation. Government will then formulate its views and publish a Green Paper, by the end of 2004 or early 2005. That Green Paper will take account of the OFCOM PSB review, due to be concluded in October next year. It will set out our provisional conclusions for a further stage of consultation.
A White Paper will follow in due course. We will conclude the process with a full and formal opportunity for both Houses to contribute their views.

Lord Burns will provide me with independent advice throughout. His role – together with an independent panel that I shall appoint next year – will be to assess evidence, identify areas where change is required, stimulate a process of debate and consensus-building and formulate options.

We will engage people through:

A website – launched today
Town Hall and other meetings to give people the chance to put their views directly to ministers
A vibrant debate with the industry
The distribution of leaflets in libraries and other public buildings
We will reach beyond those who positively engage in public meetings by undertaking a thorough programme of survey research and consultation – including citizens juries and deliberative polling

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And as a Labour politician, I have ensured that the issues of Charter review feature in the Big Conversation that the Prime Minister announced a week or so ago.

The Prime Minister launched this discussion because in today's world, trust and confidence have to be earned by politicians and never taken for granted.

As Professor Richard Sennett has said, we should treat people less as legal subjects but more as neighbours, learning the art of responsiveness, reacting to what people tell us in an engaged and positive way.

Link with Ofcom

There are other major reviews underway, or planned, that will supplement this process.

The online review, led by Philip Graf, is underway now. The reviews of the BBC's new digital services will begin in the new year.

And Ofcom's review of public service television broadcasting across the piece will be a central source of evidence feeding in to Charter review.

Its conclusions will allow us to set the BBC in the context of what we want to achieve from public service television broadcasting more generally.

Openness, thoroughness

If we are to get the answers right, Charter review must be an open process. That means we want to hear from all those in the industry and beyond who are directly affected by BBC services.

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For example, I want the world of sport to tell me what they think. I want music, the arts, film, literature, all to say whether British cultural life is better because of the BBC, and whether and how it could be better still.

I want the independent production sector to tell us whether they believe the BBC does all it can to maintain the health of this vital part of our broadcasting economy.

I want the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to say how well they think the BBC does the difficult job of reporting each nation while remaining a UK broadcaster.

The Review must be fair. We will continue the thoroughness and rigour of previous reviews – and we don't shirk from asking the tough questions that previous reviews have highlighted:

Pilkington (1960-62) looked at the experience of BBC/ITV competition and strongly upheld the BBC's public service role – it is now time to look again in the light of the hugely changed market place.

Annan (1974-77) raised concerns about accuracy and impartiality. We are determined, for the reasons I've set out, to see those standards maintained.

Peacock (1985-86) floated the long-time possibility of subscription or as she put it an 'arts council of the airwaves'. We ask these questions again, in the context of the technology and markets of now and the near future.

In the 1992 review: Peter Brooke asked 'How can we ensure diversity and choice for audiences?' – now we must ask what role the BBC should play when choice is abundant.

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However we want to go further and make sure we ask the right questions about the future:

- What contribution should the BBC make to the PSB of the digital world and what will make it distinctive and unique?

- What is the BBC's role in digital take-up and achieving switchover?

- Is the balance, range, size and scope of the publicly funded services, including the World Service, right? And right not only as individual services but also when taken together?

- What is the market impact of BBC activities? Is it justified in terms of the delivery of wider public goods? How should we ensure fair competition and a level playing field?

- As viewing and listening habits change, and people use a wider range of media outlets, is the Licence Fee still the best funding mechanism? What other funding models should we now be looking at?

- And this Review, just like its predecessors, will look at questions of Governance, regulation and constitution. These will include the external balance between the Governors and Ofcom, and the internal relationship between the Governors and the BBC's executive.

That is a long list of questions. There are even more in the document and I expect more to emerge in the course of the consultation.

Debate has already begun. Positions are already being staked out.

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But let me again stress that the Government has no hidden agenda. There have always been and will always be tensions between BBC and Government.

Clem Atlee, in his minority report as a member of a Charter Review committee in the early 1950s, said that even in wartime the BBC had a right to broadcast opinions other than those of the Government.

He was right then. And that won't change.

There is no hidden code behind this consultation.

And although we will, of course, consider very carefully any relevant recommendations from the Hutton inquiry, Charter review is a quite separate, and considerable wider, process.

We have no motive in Charter review other than to shape the future of the BBC in the public interest.

We want to open out debate, not narrow it down. So at this stage we're only asking questions, not giving answers.

The one thing I am certain of is that, at the end of this process, we must secure a strong BBC, independent of Government.

The history books tell us of previous reviews driven by political, personal and factional agendas. This will not one of them. It will be open, transparent and fair. And perhaps most importantly of all, it will belong to the British people because the BBC belongs to the British people.

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