MPs have called on the BBC to reject a proposal to merge BBC News and BBC World News into one new 24-hour channel.
Labour MP Helen Goodman, chair of the cross-party NUJ parliamentary group, tabled an early day motion calling on the corporation’s management to avoid such a merger as it would “blur the lines between the licence fee and pursuit of profit”.
BBC News is available to licence fee payers, whereas the BBC World News channel is commercially funded and available to viewers outside the UK.
“BBC News is an extremely important public resource,” said Goodman. “Any attempts to water down its role should be firmly resisted. The public value and pay for the news through the licence fee – the BBC should not be forced to cut coverage as a result of political pressure and the desire of some politicians to hamstring the BBC.”
The motion adds that advertising-funded BBC World News would not be “anything like an adequate replacement” for the BBC News channel, and that any merger would affect plurality of domestic provision of 24-hour news in the UK.
“If the BBC News channel were to disappear, Sky would be left with a domestic monopoly on continuous UK television news,” the motion says. “Any merger between BBC News channel and BBC World News would blur the lines between the licence fee and the pursuit of profit.”
The early day motion is backed by Labour MP Chris Matheson, a member of the culture, media and sport select committee.
Last month, it emerged that the BBC was considering replacing the two news services with one 24-hour channel as part of cost-cutting measures.
Culture secretary John Whittingdale has said the corporation should not cut news budgets or close channels.
The proposal goes before the BBC News executive board next month.
