The BBC’s annual report is an enormous document, with the latest information about its creative activities and financial statements running to 250 pages this week.
It includes details about audience reach, governance, and how it attempts to fulfil its public purpose at a time of dramatic change in viewing and listening habits and increased pressure to justify the licence fee.
The report reveals that almost half a million households cancelled their licence last year, as the likes of YouTube and Netflix increasingly attract younger eyeballs.
The corporation announced it is to cut 500 jobs as it shifts its focus to video and digital content. This follows previous cuts in TV and radio output, blamed on a 30 per cent drop in income under Conservative ministers.
The good news for the BBC is that the new Labour government has indicated that the public funding model should continue. The Irish government, too, yesterday announced a three-year funding plan to provide certainty for RTÉ, in a significant statement of support at a time of existential crisis following a series of controversies.
However, greatest public interest around the BBC report has inevitably focused on the latest details of star salaries.
The figures confirm that Stephen Nolan remains among the corporation’s best paid presenters. Despite a lower public profile than other names on the list, his shows on Radio Ulster and 5 Live saw him receive between £405-410,000 in the last financial year.
That placed him joint fifth in a league table behind the likes of Gary Lineker and Zoe Ball, although the figures carry a major health warning because they do not include earnings from production companies making programmes for the BBC.
The BBC makes much of its commitment to transparency in its current affairs output. Evidence of similar commitment to full transparency around how its own funds are spent is long overdue
In Mr Nolan’s case, the annual report trumpeted how he examined the realities of prison life in Jailed: Inside Maghaberry and facilitated conversations about it on his weekday radio programme. However, the BBC will not reveal what his independent production company was paid or acknowledge the apparent conflict of interest in being able to promote private projects on a major public platform.
The Irish News has also asked the corporation to provide viewing and listenership numbers for individual programmes but it has declined. This is a wholly unsustainable position when administering precious public funds and it is not clear why the situation differs from TV output, where figures are routinely available. In the Republic, RTÉ also publishes comprehensive statistics for all its stations and shows.
The BBC makes much of its commitment to transparency in its current affairs output, including the launch last year of its ‘BBC Verify’ team of fact-checkers and analysts. Evidence of similar commitment to full transparency and accountability around how its own funds are spent is long overdue.
