The BBC’s director of nations, Rhodri Talfan Davies, has defended BBC plans to reshape local services in England, speaking at Sunderland University as part of the Creative Cities Convention.
Davies warned in his speech, The BBC at the Heart of Local Communities, yesterday afternoon that “communities will lose out” without change. He added that, despite “some opposition” to plans to reduce local radio services in order to invest more money online, unless local services adapt to the digital age “it would mean inexorable decline in the BBC’s local reach, its relevance and impact. In other words, drifting to the margins of local life.”
Davies pointed to the growing use of online services across all age groups, adding that the goal is to develop a “local network that combines brilliant broadcast and online storytelling. A trusted, essential guide to daily life for all our communities.”
He added that the changes to local services that were announced last October will see major investment in local journalism across the country with the creation of 130 new journalism posts and confirmed that the changes will see no reduction in local content budgets and no overall reduction in staffing.
His speech also confirmed a number of major changes to local online services, including “stronger local online news sites across 43 areas, a major expansion of podcasting, and a new investigative reporting network across 20 sites in England.”
The director rejected the accusation that the reductions in local radio programming outside peak times are a betrayal of the past: “Adapting our services in the face of a changing environment is not an abandonment of the BBC’s local mission,” he insisted. “It is, in fact, the exact opposite. We change in order to protect and reaffirm our mission not to shrink from it. We change precisely in order to offer greater value to local communities.”
He added: “Local radio still has a critical and central role to play and our plans to invest more in local journalism and investigations will enhance the live service we can offer. It’s also worth underlining that we’re protecting all our local radio output until 2pm on weekdays, as well as all local bulletins and all live sport. These are the parts of the schedule that drive our biggest audiences.”
Davies will be back at the Creative Cities Convention on Thursday, when he and Charlotte Moore, BBC chief content officer, will face questions from Kirsty Wark on the BBC’s Across the UK strategy.
