Richard Sharp said his organization was facing common challenges to stop the public from being drawn to more partisan media, while warning that the BBC’s ability to provide accurate information was threatened by funding cuts. “Impartial news can be very unprofitable to get it right,” Sharp told a panel event hosted by the Social Market Foundation thinktank, noting that this would lead commercial news organizations to seek more and more party positions. He said the reality of what people are actually clicking on or watching is increasingly leaning towards provocative and shocking content, making it more difficult for the BBC to judge whether its production is connected to the public. He said: “About nine out of 10 adults say that unbiased news is more important than the coverage that reflects their point of view. “But we must also keep in mind, whether it is occult or not, that 99% of people say they wash their hands after going to the toilet.” Asked if the company can afford to meet the expected standards of its journalism, Sharp added: “It’s a real challenge, you need research capabilities and we need to cut some of the resources available. “That is why I disagree with the government over the license fee – it is detrimental to the BBC, there is no doubt that it will work.” Further cuts in BBC services are expected to be announced in May, with bosses currently working out what needs to be cut in the wake of the government’s latest agreement on leave fees under inflation. This follows more than a decade of staff layoffs and internal reshuffles caused by repeated pay cuts. Sharp said he believed there was a market gap for the BBC journalism genre as commercial news outlets became increasingly polarized, although the risk was that the public would move away to more entertaining party media, such as Rupert Murdoch’s upcoming talkTV. . He quoted a conversation with an unnamed person in a British financial newspaper as saying that 70% of their online stories were not read by anyone. As a result, he believes in the BBC’s incoming head of news, Deborah Turness, to “equip impartiality” and make it the company’s point of sale to the public. Her arrival has been repeatedly delayed, while her current employer – prospective rival ITN – continues to force her to run out of warning. He emphasized the importance of viral commentators on the BBC’s Ros Atkins and suggested that they could point to “a commercial opportunity for the BBC worldwide”. He also said that the company was impartial in covering the war in Ukraine: “It’s a matter of truth. “It’s our value for Russians and Ukrainians to tell the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it is.”
