The BBC has confirmed its nightly newspaper review will be axed before the merger of its two news channels is complete.
The Papers, which airs after the BBC News at 10 on the News Channel was already up for the axe in 2023, as a result of the news channel merger. The BBC’s Martine Croxall had already warned of changes to the schedules in a series of now deleted tweets.
However the BBC has confirmed “scheduling changes” beginning next week that mean The Papers will no longer run as a regular segment on the News channel. The BBC says it will continue to feature paper reviews and stories on other BBC outlets, including Breakfast, Today, Politics Live, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and via BBC News Online.
Schedules for the BBC News Channel still show The Papers as being listed for the first week of January.
But the news was welcomed by some on social media, complaining about newspaper coverage of stories dominating the BBC News agenda.
The announcement was made before 5pm on Friday of the weekend before the changes are due to come into effect.
It’s not the first time the BBC has chosen to make cuts when the public and politician’s attention might be elsewhere. In 2021, the BBC suddenly implemented previously paused plans to cut the BBC Parliament channel to a part-time service, just before Parliament went into a summer recess. In 2022, plans to merge the News Channel were released during recess, meaning the changes didn’t get the same scrutiny as the subsequent cuts to local radio that was announced while Parliament was sitting.
▶ Context: What is happening to the BBC News Channel?
BBC World News and BBC News Channel are due to be merged together in April 2023. There will be no specific UK-only content on the channel beyond simulcasts of programmes already being shown on BBC One and BBC Two, including Newsnight, which currently broadcasts in the timeslot used by The Papers.
Ahead of the change, UK-only content is already being dismantled. The channel’s Film Review was broadcast for the final time in the autumn. And programme sharing with BBC World News, introduced as part of the broadcaster’s measures to deal with the pandemic, have been expanded. For the third year running, the channel’s Christmas and New Year news service has seen both channels come together, resulting in an increased focus on international news stories.
Overnight, the new BBC News service will be presented from Singapore and New York. The new US-based news service comes as part of an expansion of BBC News in North America, including a number of new reporting roles. The move is controversial as it comes at the same time as jobs are lost in the UK and in the regions.
Funding
Until 2020, the BBC News Channel was funded by the licence fee while BBC World News was commercially funded. Both channels are now licence fee funded, although BBC World News carries adverts to cover the cost of its global distribution. This arrangement will continue once the merger is complete. The move has opened the BBC to criticism that their commercial global news channel plans are being bankrolled by licence fee payers.
UK Breaking News
The UK copy of the new BBC News service will be able to breakaway from the main channel’s schedule to covering breaking news specific to the UK, from a standby studio. But the BBC has not been specific as to what type of news would trigger such an arrangement. Major breaking stories for the UK would already be shown on BBC One or BBC Two. But would a major story affecting just Wales or Scotland qualify for a dedicated news stream?
What does Ofcom say?
The BBC says the plans for the channel are not ‘material’, i.e. not requiring a public consultation. Despite its public funding, it has declined so far to publish any further details or impact assessments about the changes.
Ofcom is in the process of reviewing the BBC’s Operating Licence which would allow the BBC to make a wider range of changes to its services without public consultation. The proposed new Operating Licence sees the abolition of a condition that the BBC News Channel must show more stories from the UK nations and regions than other UK rolling news channels. And the Operating Licence renewal gives more options for the BBC to self-regulate, a move fiercely opposed by ITV and radio station operator Global.
Ofcom has indicated that it would be in a position to impose conditions on the BBC in the future if the News channel failed to deliver high quality news for viewers in the UK.
What are rivals doing?
Sky News will continue to feature its evening paper review – which became a cornerstone of the channel’s evening schedule long before the BBC created “The Papers”. TalkTV has meanwhile boosted its 10pm news hour by recently launching First Edition with Tom Newton-Dunn with a specific focus on the following morning’s newspapers. This is also noticeable on Twitter, where the First Edition Twitter account is in action with newspaper front pages, even on days when the programme is not on air.
by Iain Hatton