Tony Hall is fighting a good, if slightly belated, fight for BBC independence. He’s crucially right – in his Cardiff speech last week – to want charter renewal shifted way clear of the five-year election cycle, which is proving an absolute invitation for political meddling. There are many other such battles left to win, of course: particularly securing an audience vote in what happens next and finding a clear, firm formula for keeping Westminster’s sticky fingers at bay.
But let’s not pretend that muddy blue water makes anything easy. Here’s £245m a year taken from BBC resources five years ago by forcing it to fund the World Service. And now here’s £289m over five years lobbed back in the defence and security review to open several new language services – including to North Korea.
“Fantastic news,” says Lord H, gratefully: and of course, in some ways it is. But hang on for the next really tough round of cuts as he struggles to cover the £750m loss of licence fee funding for the elderly.
No BBC3 via terrestrial any longer, perhaps no BBC4 or Radio 5: but BBC Pyongyang going full blast on the full red button. Somehow it doesn’t seem much of an easy sell.
