BBC Public Purpose Remit: Sustaining citizenship and civil society December 2007 Sustaining citizenship and civil society You can trust the BBC to provide high-quality news, current affairs and factual programming that keeps you informed and supports debate about important issues and political developments in an engaging way. You can look to the BBC for help in using and understanding different kinds of media.1 What the BBC will do to achieve this Purpose 1. Provide independent journalism of the highest quality. BBC journalism should be independent, accurate and impartial – providing news and current affairs of relevance, range and depth which audiences trust. BBC Journalism should offer a range and depth of analysis not widely available from other UK providers. 2. Engage a wide audience in news, current affairs and other topical issues. The BBC should provide news and current affairs that interests and informs people of all backgrounds, ages and levels of knowledge, enabling them to engage with the major issues of today. 3. Encourage conversation and debate about news, current affairs and topical issues. BBC news and current affairs should inform conversation and debate among friends, family and wider groups through forums for debate such as phone-ins and online discussion areas. 4. Build greater understanding of the parliamentary process and political institutions governing the UK. The BBC should help all its audiences understand how the UK is governed at a European, national, regional and local level. 5. Enable audiences to access, understand and interact with different types of media. The BBC should help people become ‘media-literate’ – giving them the confidence to make full use of all media including information technologies. The BBC will help its audiences engage critically with media – to find what they are looking for from trustworthy sources, to understand what it is about, to form an opinion about it and, where necessary, to respond to and interact with it.2 1 The BBC’s contribution to the promotion and sustainment of citizenship is not exclusive to this Purpose, and will be achieved through its other Purposes, particularly Promoting Education and Learning and Representing the UK, its Nations, Regions and Communities. 2 The BBC’s contribution to media literacy is not exclusive to this priority, and is covered within some of its other Purposes, particularly Promoting Education and Learning and Emerging Communications. Guidance on how the Trust intends to measure performance against the Purpose priorities is contained in Annex I. Annex II explains the priorities, and how they have been developed, in more detail. Annex I: Purpose Remit Measurement In order to monitor the BBC’s delivery of the Public Purposes, the Trust will use largely quantitative measures based on licence fee payer perceptions of the BBC's delivery of the Purpose priorities. In some cases it will be necessary to supplement or replace such measures with qualitative research on priorities which are not readily amenable to survey questions and therefore require more in-depth research. Where appropriate, the Trust will also gather comparative data, using its survey questions, to assess the BBC’s performance relative to other media providers. For details about how the Trust will use these measures in evaluating the BBC’s effectiveness in delivering its Public Purposes, please see the Purpose Remit Operating Framework. Priority (i): Provide independent journalism of the highest quality. The Trust will measure: Audience perceptions of the BBC providing high quality independent journalism. Priority (ii): Engage a wide audience in news, current affairs and other topical issues. The Trust will measure: Audience perceptions of the BBC making the major issues of the day interesting to them. Priority (iii): Encourage conversation and debate about news, current affairs and topical issues. The Trust will measure: Audience perceptions of the BBC encouraging them to talk about news and current affairs. Priority (iv): Build greater understanding of the parliamentary process and political institutions governing the UK. The Trust will measure: Audience perceptions of the BBC helping them understand how the UK is governed at a national and local level. Priority (v): Enable audiences to access, understand and interact with different types of media. The Trust will measure: Audience perceptions of the BBC helping them to understand how to use new technology such as interactive TV and the internet. Qualitative audience research will also be used, particularly to explore how far audiences feel they have been helped to evaluate and engage with the many sources of content available through digital media. Annex II: Explanatory Note Introduction This Annex explains the background to the development of the ‘sustaining citizenship and civil society’ Purpose Remit. Under its Charter and the Agreement the BBC has six Public Purposes, which are: 1. sustaining citizenship and civil society; 2. promoting education and learning; 3. stimulating creativity and cultural excellence; 4. representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities; 5. bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK; 6. in promoting its other Purposes, helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services and, in addition, taking a leading role in the switchover to digital television. For each Public Purpose the Trust must adopt a Purpose Remit setting out priorities and specifying how the Executive Board’s performance against these priorities will be judged. The Trust must consult publicly in developing the Purpose Remits before adopting them. The six Public Purposes should not be seen as entirely separate aims but as parts of a whole whose boundaries necessarily overlap. The six Remits should therefore be read together – and within the context of the BBC’s overall mission to inform, educate and entertain. Subsequent to public consultation, the Trust will use the Remits to commission Purpose Plans from the Executive Board. These will set out how the BBC's services and supporting activities will deliver the Purpose priorities. Once it has approved the Purpose Plans, the Trust will amend Service Licences, as necessary, to reflect the role that services play in delivering the priorities set out in Purpose Remits. The Trust will conduct a full review of the Purpose Remits in 2011/12. This Annex is divided into three sections 1. Scope of the Public Purpose This sets out the types of output and activities to be covered by the Purpose, as required by the Charter and Agreement. 2. Market Context and BBC Role In this section the overall market context for the delivery of the Purpose is described, including major developments in terms of technologies, audiences and the wider political and policy context. Against this background, the BBC's particular role in delivering the Purpose is outlined. 3. Priorities This section sets out, in detail, the priorities that the Trust has set the Executive Board. 1. Scope of the Public Purpose The Charter and Agreement note the importance of sustaining citizenship through the enrichment of the public realm and obliges the Trust to ensure that the BBC ‘gives information about, and increases understanding of, the world through accurate and impartial news, other information, and analysis of current events and ideas.’ In doing so, the Trust is obliged to ‘have regard to the need to promote understanding of the UK political system (including Parliament and the devolved structures) including through dedicated coverage of Parliamentary matters, and the need for the Purpose Remit to ensure that the BBC transmits an impartial account day by day of the proceedings in both Houses of Parliament.’ The Trust is also obliged to have regard to ‘the need to promote media literacy’. 2. Market Context and BBC Role The remit of this Public Purpose reflects in part current and expected developments in the pattern of consumption of news by audiences as well as the news market. This section sets out some of the main changes in this regard and the related challenges faced by news providers. 2.1 Market Context and Developments Audience choice for sources of news and information is rapidly increasing as new entrants come into the market. News and information, once scarce, is now abundant and continuously available. New technology – especially digital technology – has dramatically cut distribution costs and enabled many new entrants to come into the market. These technologies are also enabling providers to reach audiences in new ways and via new platforms. As a result there is greatly increased choice for audiences – and greatly increased competition between providers of news and information. Increased competition for audiences among news providers puts pressures on quality. Although distribution costs have fallen sharply, the costs of newsgathering have increased. This applies particularly to the costs of professional eye- witness reporting. As intensifying competition puts pressure on overall costs, there is a risk that investment in newsgathering will be cut. Primary newsgathering could become concentrated in fewer hands - which constitutes a threat to diversity of supply; or eye-witness reporting could be reduced or become more reliant on non-professional contributors - which threatens its quality. Timeliness has become a key competitive battleground for 24-hour news and this puts pressure on accuracy. Digital technology enables any individual to publish or supply stories to very large audiences. However this ‘user-generated’ content is of variable accuracy, impartiality and fairness. All these developments are putting intense pressure on the maintenance of high-quality, authoritative and trustworthy news supply. Audience expectations of news providers are changing. Although audiences continue to look to the media to offer highly edited summaries of events and analysis of issues they can be less willing to take the media’s version of events at face value. Some want to question and comment while others seek to contribute by constructing their own reports and analyses out of raw news materials. News providers are having to change to accommodate these pressures, for example by providing raw news feeds, finding and breaking stories as well as offering highly edited reports and analysis of issues, and developing a two-way relationship with their audiences. Audience demands from current affairs are changing. There has been a marked decline in UK audiences for traditional television current affairs where half an hour or longer is set aside for expert analysis of a single significant issue. However, there is still a need for analysis of serious issues and for investigative and revelatory journalism. The challenge for news providers lies in sustaining demand for analysis of significant issues not seen as directly relevant to audiences’ lives. Engaging audiences in coverage of politics is increasingly difficult. The BBC has particular obligations laid upon it in the Charter and Agreement to report Parliament and the devolved structures, and to promote understanding of the UK political system. It discharges these obligations through dedicated coverage of Parliamentary matters including an impartial account day by day of the proceeding in both Houses of Parliament. There is, however, an important dimension to politics in the UK that demands that providers of news and current affairs widen the scope of political coverage well beyond Parliament and the devolved structures of the UK. Younger audiences, for example, show declining interest in voting in general elections. There is, however, no sign that young people are turning away from involvement in society and its issues. Many young 3 Home Office Citizenship Survey, 2005, measuring percentages of respondents who had volunteered at least once a month in the 12 months before the survey. 4 Media Literacy Audit – Report on Adult Media Literacy, Ofcom; March 2006 people in the UK are involved in single-issue pressure groups and there is evidence that the under-25s are the most likely of all groups to take part in regular volunteering.3 In addition, therefore, to providing authoritative and impartial coverage of Parliamentary politics, there is a need to develop effective and engaging ways of covering the political issues that resonate with UK audiences who do not necessarily see Parliament as reflecting and representing their concerns. Increased significance has been given to the institutions of civil society. Civil society is commonly understood as the network of non-state organisations through which citizens organise and promote their interests and values. These typically include charities, voluntary organisations, trade associations, self-help groups, educational and sporting groups and faith-based organisations. These networks provide support for their members and also help to build a larger sense of community where people can come together for their own benefit - and for the benefit of others. In this way they can be said to enrich the public realm by offering solutions for problems. As such, the institutions of civil society have much to contribute to the national debate alongside individuals, government and other informed contributors. However, there is a need to balance the views of these groups with those of the wider public to avoid over- reliance on them. Providing a range of forums to enable these debates and supplying the accurate information that fuels them is a valuable role for media organisations to play – and a way in which the media themselves can enrich the public realm. The need for skills in media literacy is increasing. The increasing availability and sophistication of communications media is producing an increased need for media literacy – the ability of individual members of the public to access, evaluate and engage with the media. Media literacy builds skills in judging the accuracy and trustworthiness of content and enables users to engage confidently with the technology and use it to create the communications they want. It is therefore an essential tool of modern citizenship. Levels of media literacy are likely to vary according to age and platform. Whereas most people in the UK are comfortable with television, many are less so with the internet; and in general terms the over-65s have significantly lower levels of media literacy than other age groups.4 5 BBC Charter Review: ‘What You Said About the BBC’, DCMS; July 2004 6 Creative Future research: A Future for BBC Journalism, Sparkler; September 2005 2.2 The BBC Role This market context suggests a clear public service imperative for the BBC to provide serious news, current affairs and factual programming of the highest quality to all UK audiences through a wide range of channels. Its impartial and accurate content should engage audiences and make its relevance to their lives clear. It should offer a wide range of topics over time and depth of analysis not widely available from other UK providers. The potential of interactivity should be exploited to provide arenas for informed debate in the UK. The BBC also has a responsibility to build media literacy in order to help UK audiences make sense of the increasing number of media choices, to find other appropriate sources of news and information, and to increase their confidence in using digital technologies. 3. Priorities In delivering this Purpose, the Trust will focus on the following priorities for the Executive Board, through which the BBC will, to an appropriate extent, also promote the delivery of the Public Purpose for ‘leading digital switchover and encouraging emerging communications technologies’. The Trust has developed the following priorities with reference to the requirements of the Charter and Agreement, the emerging market context in which the BBC is operating and an understanding of the needs of licence fee payers. (i) Provide independent journalism of the highest quality All BBC journalism – local, regional, national and international - should set standards of impartiality, accuracy and independence, seen by audiences as paramount to the success of the BBC’s news provision.5 BBC news and current affairs should cover a very wide range of topics and provide a depth of analysis and context not widely available from other UK broadcasters. In the face of the increasing availability of news of questionable credibility, the trustworthiness of all BBC journalism must be unimpeachable. Audiences have highlighted what they expect from a news service – accuracy, speed, personalisation, two-way dialogue and trust. Overall, BBC journalism is highly thought of, but audiences want the BBC to be more modern, accessible, dynamic and courageous.6 (ii) Engage a wide audience in news, current affairs and other topical issues. 7 BBC Charter Review: ‘What You Said About the BBC’, DCMS; July 2004 8 Creative Future research: Human Capital and Pulse; 2006 9Creative Future research: Human Capital and Pulse; 2006 Audiences believe that offering programmes and services that help people learn, that represent the different cultures of the UK, and that enable people to take part in the democratic process - such as high quality news and current affairs - is a key role for a public service broadcaster.7 Both as consumers and as citizens, BBC audiences place BBC national and regional news as the most important genres.8 It is important for the BBC to engage all UK audiences with news, current affairs and other topical factual programming. To do so, the BBC will need to provide both for those who are hungry for information and analysis and for those whom the BBC has traditionally found it hard to reach. (iii) Encourage conversation and debate about news, current affairs and topical issues. The spread of citizen-journalism, blogging and other user-generated content, demonstrates an increasing interest within the audience for direct and active engagement with the news and its underlying issues. Audiences want the BBC to provide the means for citizens to interact and to participate in debate across a variety of platforms and at local, regional, nations’ and UK-wide levels.9 The Trust sees a clear role for the BBC in providing accurate information to enable people to take part in the debates that sustain the democratic process and civil society. Audiences see this role as appropriate across the full range of BBC output, not just news and current affairs. None of these activities, however, should be allowed to conflict with the overriding imperatives of due impartiality. (iv) Build greater understanding of the parliamentary process and political institutions governing the UK. Under the Charter and Agreement, the BBC is committed to promoting understanding of the UK political system and parliamentary process through dedicated coverage of Parliamentary matters, including an impartial account day by day of the proceedings in both Houses of Parliament. BBC political coverage should also take full account of devolution and report the work of the national parliaments and assemblies. Coverage of political institutions should include the wider machinery of government in Whitehall, the devolved structures, local government, non-departmental bodies and Europe. There is a particular need for the work of the devolved structures to be accurately reflected in UK-wide news output. The BBC’s political content should include coverage of national and local elections. 10 Ofcom Media Literacy Bulletin; Issue 5 March 2006 11 Building Public Value: Renewing the BBC for a digital world, BBC; June 2004 Through news, current affairs and factual programming, the BBC should aim to engage audiences who may not see parliamentary politics as central to their concerns. (v) Enable audiences to access, understand and interact with different types of media. Media literacy is an essential tool of modern citizenship and is increasingly central to the population’s ability to participate in society. The BBC has an important role equipping audiences with the skills to understand, access and interact with media. This includes helping audiences engage critically with media - to find what they are looking for from trustworthy sources, to understand what it is about, to form an opinion about it and, where necessary, to respond to and interact with it. Building audiences’ confidence in their use of digital media will help to foster a dynamic creative economy in the UK.10 The BBC is part of the Media Literacy Task Force and helps those with lower levels of media literacy to understand, use and enjoy digital technologies, including building awareness of when it is illegal to access content. The BBC should continue to find innovative ways to overcome people’s reluctance to try new technology.11