John Simpson worries about BBC’s future

OHMYGOSSIP — John Simpson is “worried” about the future of the BBC.
The 76-year-old foreign correspondent believes the time is coming when the broadcaster will no longer be publicly funded by the license fee as although the “vast majority” of viewers are in favour of the organisation, it doesn’t have the support it used to.
He said: “I think everybody who belongs to it does worry about its future. I suspect we are looking at the end of the licence-fee model. It is an awkward way to be funded.
“And there is so much nasty and vindictive propaganda directed against the BBC. Yet opinion polls show a vast majority of the public still support it and want it, far more than any other broadcasting outfit, but it is less than it was.
“I am a BBC fundamentalist. I think you go back to [BBC founder John] Reith. In my rosy-tinted view of him, he would today be telling governments to get stuffed and wouldn’t be worrying about the focus groups. You can’t appease everyone all the time.”
But John doesn’t think the recently-launched GB News channel will prove much of a threat to the BBC’s coverage.
He told the Telegraph magazine: “I don’t think you can have too many news organisations. I like Andrew Neil a lot as a person, but I was pretty surprised by the degree to which political opinions were being shoved down my throat when I watched some of GB News. I dare say that will sort itself out.
“Under our present system, Ofcom is there to prevent news organisations from taking sides. President Ronald Reagan got rid of the ‘fairness doctrine’ that bound all US broadcasters in matters of public interest in 1987. What has followed in the US should be a warning to us.”
John is excited about his top-secret new on-screen role for the broadcaster and hopes to still be a fixture with the network for years to come.
He said: “I can’t go into the plans but I am about to enter a new exciting phase with the BBC. It’s about foreign affairs but in a more structured form.
“If I can do it, I should like to stay with the BBC until 2026, when I will have been working for it for 60 years.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online
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