The BBC’s stay of execution

Auntie has been warned, and in no uncertain terms. Jeremy Hunt, the innocuous-looking Culture Secretary, has used an interview with the Telegraph to threaten the BBC. He said:

‘There is a moment when elected politicians have an opportunity to influence the BBC and it happens every five years. It is when the licence fee is renewed. That will be happening next year. That will be the moment when I use my electoral mandate to say to the BBC now, going forward for the next five years, these are what we think your priorities need to be and there are huge numbers of things that need to be changed at the BBC. They need to demonstrate the very constrained financial situation we are now in. We are clear – one of the biggest issues with the BBC is there seem to be a steady flow of stories where the way that licence fee payers’ funds are used is not appropriate.