Currently a Green Paper on the BBC Charter, up for renewal, is out for consultation until March 10th. The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (North) has produced a special four-page edition of Media North on this. It seems likely that many of our readers, like the Editor and myself, rely on the BBC for digital film titles: programmes on cinema: one-off and drama series: as well as news, entertainment and documentaries. The Green Paper suggests that the government is likely to bring in significant changes to the BBC Charter and, therefore, its Public Broadcasting provision.

I have followed the BBC since the late 1940s on radio and then television. Its current provision offers me less than in the past. The selection and variety of digital film titles is reduced from when the service was analogue. Its selection of documentaries is of a lesser variety and quality than that found on Al Jazeera. And programmes on cinema are reduced; the most interesting are from the past like the Arena interview with Orson Welles. Plus, I find that news coverage and current affairs are less critical than say Al Jazeera or even Sky.

Meanwhile the complaint system for viewers/listeners to comment on this provision is bureaucratic and runs into dead ends. I had one complaint about Radio 4’s Today programme that got lost in delays and deadlines; and another on the BBC World Service actually made it to Ofcom who then responded that they only considered domestic provision. Happily for me, and I think for many readers, the special edition of Media North provides critical coverage of the Green Paper and some of it implications. It also helpfully provides links to online critiques and coverage. These should provide assistance in considering the Green Paper and aspects which are ripe for comment.

I was disturbed to discover that alongside this there is a question about the Freeview terrestrial television provision.

I rely on this, as I suspect some other other do, to access the BBC channels, Channel 4, Film 4, Talking Pictures and PBS especially. As a cricket fan with an interest in serious international news I was distraught when the Long Wave Service was wound up. I fear losing Freeview would entail an even wider loss. It is true that Al Jazeera is now a stream, but the technical quality was better when on a television channel.

So, Media North is available online; I recommend a read.