NUJ forges Channel 4 action plan

The NUJ is to form a cross-party group comprising MPs, peers and leading indie bosses to argue against the privatisation of Channel 4.

The action plan was worked up during a cross-party parliamentary group meeting this week and includes the ambition to collaborate with the likes of Bectu and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain to help raise awareness of the issue.

The aim is to emphasise the important role C4 plays “particularly in its remit for innovative programming and reaching diverse audiences and niche interests”, according to a briefing document drawn up by the NUJ.

The NUJ group, which is co-chaired by Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter and Labour MP Grahame Morris, pledged: “We will draw on high-profile journalists, actors, writers, technicians and others from the creative sector to…galvanise people to voice their support for C4 and the danger of it being sold off to a foreign company.”

The plans emerged as Baroness Bonham-Carter raised the issue in the House of Lords yesterday (1 July).

The Lib Dem peer, who has previously worked at Panorama and Newsnight, told peers that in the event of a sales process it is inevitable that C4’s remit will be overhauled with “disastrous consequences” for the wider creative economy.

“No change to the remit means no real profit for the government; so why do it?,” she queried, “Could this be ideologically, rather than economically, driven?”

In response Baroness Diana Barran, under secretary of state for the DCMS, said the government is committed to ensuring a “thriving” PSB ecology.

“We are trying to address the [declining] trend in advertising revenue for linear television and make sure that C4 has a secure and sustainable future,” added Barran.