“If the BBC is ever to truly address the widespread perception of in-built Left-wing bias, and to end the practice of senior staff recruiting new employees in their own image, then more emphasis needs to be placed on employing staff whose political opinions are more in line with those of the public, who previous year voted in a majority Conservative government”.
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Upon announcing the changes, Mr Whittingdale admitted the licence fee is “likely to become less sustainable” in the future.
The BBC seemed broadly supportive of the White Paper, arguing that it meant it neither had to reduce its scale or scope, or sell commercial assets.
Growing numbers of domestic viewers catch up on BBC programmes online rather than watch live, and they too would require a TV licence under the new plans.
In turn, the BBC will remove in-house production guarantees for all TV content spend except news and news-related current affairs.
“I think most people would agree that the BBC’s main job is to speak truth to power, to report to the British public without fear or favour”.
Shadow Culture Secretary Maria Eagle said Mr Whittingdale “seems determined to diminish” the corporation, adding that the Labour party will oppose him “all the way”. “He wants it diminished in size”.
Closing a license fee loophole, viewers will have to start paying to access the BBC iPlayer VOD service.
Mr Whittingdale had also suggested that children’s channels CBBC and CBeebies would be protected in the new White Paper.
“When the licence fee was invented, video on demand did not exist”.
However, a subscription-based model will also be trialled alongside.
And Professor Steven Barnett, professor of communications at the University of Westminster, was critical for altogether different reasons.
At the Baftas on Sunday night, Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky hit out at the Government, saying it was trying to “eviscerate” the BBC, and adding that he felt now “is a risky time for broadcasting in Britain”.
“If the government doesn’t do it, my goodness me, not only are we going to back the bill but we will march, so there we are”.
The White Paper calls for a “strengthening” of the BBC’s existing content requirements and says Ofcom will also “have an important role in assessing the board’s performance in delivering a more distinctive BBC”.
The Government will introduced a new process to set the licence fee every five years to give the BBC financial certainty. “It will provide the foundations for a stronger, more independent, more distinctive BBC that will inform, educate and entertain for many years to come”, he said.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “We are not commenting ahead of publication of the White Paper later this month”.
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There will be a new “unitary board” – replacing the external BBC Trust and internal BBC Executive – and responsible for ensuring the corporation’s “strategy, activity and output are in the public interest”. We will continue to make the case to government.
