BBC Local News Lies Exposed

Earlier this year the News Media Association (NMA) passed before my inspection, and was revealed (read it HERE) to be an establishment lobby group, which claimed to be “The voice of national, regional and local newsbrands”, but which in reality was another front in the battle to diminish the BBC, with directors from the Barclay Brothers, Murdoch and Rothermere press all in attendance.

In July, they remained in the background, but now the NMA spokesman is none other than Mike Darcey, who is, by the merest coincidence, CEO until the end of the week at News UK, a taker of the Murdoch shilling, although, as the Guardian observes, his “role at News Uk has been subject to continued speculation”. Like when the twinkle-toed yet domestically combative Rebekah Brooks returns next Monday, he’ll be on his way out.

To no surprise at all, Darcey claims “News brands are successfully making the transition to a sustainable digital world, despite undoubted challenges and risks along the way … The BBC must not be given free rein to jeopardise that transition by expanding its local or international news services under the guise of providing a universal solution for a market failure which doesn’t exist”. The piss-poor SunNation website, to no surprise, agrees.

As the Guardian explains, “The 69-page NMA report argues that at a local level, the BBC’s drive to create its own suite of local news services across the UK is ‘unnecessary and risks damaging the local press sector’ … At a national level, the report claims that the editorial scope of the BBC’s services are rapidly expanding beyond its core news remit into traditionally commercial editorial areas such as ‘soft’ news articles, magazine ‘lifestyle’ content, and celebrity columnists”. But one thing is missing.

That thing is advertising. And what is driving the all too real market failure in the local news sector is that advertising revenues have gone down the chute big time in recent years, as all those pages of job adverts, car adverts, property adverts and even general for sale adverts have wasted away, the advertisers and their customers having migrated to online platforms. That has absolutely nothing to do with the BBC.

But on ploughs the NMA with more finely crafted bullshit: “This is a key issue related to the broadening of the BBC’s online editorial scope in that it blurs the distinction between public service and commercial content … Today, it can be argued that the growth of BBC Online is pushing the BBC into more competition with the commercially funded news sector”.

The Beeb is still not flogging motors or houses, though. And, talking of flogging houses, previously a staple for local newspapers one evening a week, much of that advertising has gone to new market entrants likes Zoopla, which is part-owned by Countrywide Estate Agents … and the Daily Mail and General Trust. That would be the same DMGT which has a representative on the board of … the NMA.

So that’s another case of “Physician, heal thyself”, then. What a bunch of hypocrites.