The potential consequences for society are profound. As Silicon Valley overlords put on the masks of freedom of expression activists, while seeking to subvert democracies or cosy up to Donald Trump, Britain is in danger of losing the shared truths which TV news has underpinned for 60 years.
British broadcasters see the risk of disappearing off the radar. BBC News has just appointed a social strategy and digital growth chief, Jonny McGuigan. At ITN, there is talk that incoming director of news and current affairs at ITV, Andrew Dagnell, must take radical action.
“Given the speed of developments in viewing behaviour on TV and elsewhere, sitting back and not making changes is probably not an option for the new boss of ITV News.”
The media must break its self-destructive dependency on X in 2025
Read MoreFor now, this must be resisted. ITV News At Ten never fully recovered from confusing switches to 11pm and then 10.30pm made more than 20 years ago. Lead presenter Tom Bradby now brings stability. The BBC’s Ten is still reeling from the demise of Huw Edwards. It needs a distinct figurehead, not the current carousel of newscasters.
The BBC is similarly bullied. Reform UK has pledged to “scrap the BBC licence fee”, a document that its attack dog MP Lee Anderson theatrically rips up in public. Robert Jenrick, seen as a future Conservative leader, is “tempted” to scrap the fee. The perils the BBC faced under Boris Johnson’s regime might seem trifling in comparison to what might follow a Labour election defeat.
Sky News is also in jeopardy. When US giant Comcast bought Sky from Rupert Murdoch in 2018 it agreed to continue the loss-making news service until 2028. Sky reported operating losses of £224m for 2023. Sky News is a global player with more followers on TikTok than BBC News. It produces unique eye-witness journalism and Comcast should stand by it, even if it is being beaten in TV ratings by upstart GB News.
We need deeply-reported bulletins. With the world focused on AI, it might sound Luddite to lobby for a fading format made famous by Reginald Bosanquet and Walter Cronkite. The number of Americans watching an evening network news broadcast has fallen from one in four in 1980 to fewer than one in 14 in 2019. But these bulletins still hold power to account. President Trump has threatened to remove the licences of ABC, CBS and Comcast’s NBC over news coverage that irked him.
We cannot allow similar threats to our shared truths to be carried out here.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Social media is outpacing TV news – but its shared truths matter more than ever )
Also on site :