I recently spoke at an event organised by the Media Reform Coalition’s, launching the ‘BBC Charter Review: Alternative Green Paper’.
The Alternative Green Paper is a collaborative document, bringing together a collection of transformative proposals for creating a more democratic, independent, accountable and sustainable BBC.
You can find out more about the Alternative Green Paper here
If we want a resilient democracy, capable of withstanding oligarchic pressure at home and authoritarian influence abroad, then we need institutions that are structurally robust, publicly rooted and democratically governed.
The BBC is central to this – but only if we are bold enough to move beyond tinkering and brave enough to reimagine the settlement itself.
You can read my full speech below:
“Can I begin by saying how relieved I am that the Media Reform Coalition exists.
Relieved — because the scale of the problems confronting us is enormous. They are structural. They are systemic. And they are accelerating.
We are living through a period in which institutions that once anchored our democracy are visibly fraying. Political parties are struggling to command trust. Trade unions face new pressures in a fragmented economy. Public bodies are hollowed out or politicised. And now the BBC itself stands at a crossroads, under sustained assault.
This Charter Review should have been a moment of renewal. A once-in-a-generation opportunity to ask fundamental questions about what public service broadcasting is for in the 21st century. Instead, what we have been offered in the Government’s Green Paper is, frankly, tinkering.
And tinkering does not meet the moment.
Because the crisis facing the BBC is not merely financial. It is not merely about governance structures. It is not merely about how the licence fee is collected or replaced.
It is about legitimacy.
The BBC sits at the intersection of three ecosystems: politics, culture and the economy. It shapes public discourse. It sustains creative industries. It provides shared reference points in an age of fragmentation. And when it works well, it underpins democratic life itself.
That makes it powerful. And that makes it a target.
We know the threats to democracy today are not abstract. Authoritarian politics is rising across the world. Hybrid warfare and disinformation are no longer fringe concerns; they are central features of geopolitical strategy. We have seen how foreign actors manipulate social media, exploit grievance, and amplify division.
We know too that the United States’ own strategic thinking now openly speaks of pursuing pro-nativist agendas in Europe. At the same time, Silicon Valley billionaires — from Elon Musk to others — are intervening directly in political and cultural discourse here in the UK. They own platforms. They shape algorithms. They radicalise conversations.
Against that backdrop, the BBC cannot be treated as just another broadcaster.
It is one of the few institutions with the reach, credibility and scale to act as a bulwark against disinformation and democratic erosion. But only if it is independent. Only if it is properly funded. Only if it is governed in a way that reflects the public, not the government of the day.
That requires structural thinking.
We cannot separate media reform from democratic reform. Nor can we separate it from political economy.
If our wider economy concentrates wealth and power in fewer and fewer hands, if our democracy feels distant and unresponsive, then trust drains away — from Parliament, from parties, from regulators, and yes, from the BBC.
Restoring trust will not come from cosmetic adjustments. It will come from putting people at the heart of our institutions again.
That means rethinking funding models so that public service broadcasting is stable and insulated from political leverage. It means embedding genuine democratic accountability in governance. It means ensuring regional representation is real, not symbolic. It means recognising the BBC as part of a broader civic infrastructure — alongside local journalism, community media, and cultural institutions.
And it means being honest that the Green Paper, as it stands, simply is not up to the task.
This is not the time for managerial tweaks. It is a time for democratic renewal.
The Media Reform Coalition understands that. That is why its work matters. It broadens the debate beyond the narrow confines of what government is prepared to contemplate. It reminds us that media reform is not technocratic housekeeping. It is about power. About who sets the terms of public debate. About who gets heard.
If we want a resilient democracy, capable of withstanding oligarchic pressure at home and authoritarian influence abroad, then we need institutions that are structurally robust, publicly rooted and democratically governed.
The BBC can be part of that renewal.
But only if we are bold enough to move beyond tinkering — and brave enough to reimagine the settlement itself.”
Earlier this year I hosted a roundtable in Parliament for MPs about the BBC Charter Review, to discuss progressive reform of the BBC. Read about it here