BBC Journalist Clive Myrie Calls on New U.K. Culture Minister to Commit to Public Service Broadcasting, Praises Corporation’s Impartiality
variety.comK.J. Yossman BBC journalist Clive Myrie has called on whoever is appointed the new secretary of state for culture under Liz Truss to “make a renewed commitment to quality public service broadcasting, at the BBC and Channel 4.” Truss was appointed Prime Minister earlier today, replacing Boris Johnson.
She is expected to appoint a new cabinet, including a new secretary of state for the department of culture, sport and media, who will take over from incumbent minister Nadine Dorries.
Delivering the Royal Television Society’s Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture at the University of Westminster on Monday evening, Myrie also championed the BBC’s commitment to impartiality, in comments that could potentially be interpreted as a rebuttal to his former colleague Emily Maitlis’s Edinburgh TV Festival lecture two weeks ago. “[Public service broadcasting] is too important to be left in the hands of a free market,” Myrie said in his speech.
He also put forward a critique of the subscription-based model the BBC would likely turn to in the event its public funding, via the annual license fee, were revoked, pointing out that “the market is now saturated” and that subscriber-based streaming platforms were slashing spending as subscriber numbers drop. “If the subscription model is adopted….
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