UK culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, recently announced that the BBC’s licence fee is to be frozen for two years and that a new funding mechanism for the corporation will follow after 2027. This statement created shockwaves within the media industry and beyond. Many accused the government’s move of being sheer cultural vandalism and the destruction of a global brand.
The announcement was followed by a statement in the House of Commons, during which there was, perhaps, a change of tack as Dorries stated: “It is not a policy; we are announcing a debate and a discussion”, suggesting that no decision had been made on abolishing the licence fee.
