BBC Charter review 2027
Join our campaign for a democratic, public-led Charter review process.
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The BBC belongs to everyone. We demand a democratic say on its future.
Over X,XXX people and XXX groups have called for a democratic, public-led BBC Charter review.
Join our campaign to demand that the Government give the British public an active and direct role in the upcoming BBC Charter review.
- Sign the 38 Degrees petition to Lisa Nandy
- Represent an organisation? Sign our open letter to Lisa Nandy
- Read our BBC Charter review FAQs below
The BBC has been a cornerstone of British society and the UK’s media industries for over a century. The upcoming BBC Charter review, which will decide the BBC’s purposes and how it is run for at least the next decade, is an historic opportunity to ensure the BBC truly serves the British public and our democracy.
Yet for too long, the public has been shut out from decisions about the BBC and our vital public media institutions. The upcoming BBC Charter review must not repeat the undemocratic and unaccountable practices of the past.
We call on the Government to immediately organise a series of Citizens’ Assemblies, hosted throughout the UK with participants selected by democratic lottery, which will put the British public at the heart of deciding the future of the BBC.
You can support our campaign by:
- Signing our 38 Degrees petition
- Co-signing our open letter to Lisa Nandy
Our open letter has been signed by over XXX groups, researchers and campaigners. See the full list of current signatories here.
If the BBC’s next Royal Charter does not command widespread public support, it will lose the democratic legitimacy it needs to continue as a vital and valued public institution. At worst, the scale of challenges facing a poorly reformed BBC may prove impossible to overcome.
The stakes could not be higher. The Government must involve the public in these crucial debates on the BBC’s future, and utilise Citizens’ Assemblies to make the upcoming BBC Charter Review a genuinely open, inclusive and public-led process.
BBC Charter review FAQs
- What is the BBC Royal Charter?
- The BBC is governed by a Royal Charter, which serves as the BBC’s constitution and mission statement. The Charter sets out how the BBC is structured, regulated and its core purposes as a public service broadcaster. It also defines the various powers that the UK Government, the regulator Ofcom and the BBC Board have over the BBC’s operational and editorial processes.
The BBC has been issued with nine Royal Charters in its 100-year history. Each Charter includes an expiry date stating when the government will be required to review and renew the BBC’s constitution for a new period (usually 10 years or more). The current BBC Royal Charter ends on December 31st 2027.
- What are the problems with the BBC Charter review?
- Because the Royal Charter is issued by the Privy Council (made up of government ministers), the process for reviewing the BBC’s Charter is controlled entirely by the government of the day, with no democratic oversight. The government also holds exclusive control over the BBC’s public funding via setting the level of the TV licence fee, and appointing figures to the BBC Board.
There is no legally established process for how Charter review happens, and this gives politicians a huge and unaccountable influence over what questions get asked, what reforms are considered, and who takes part in making decisions. Not even parliament has an official role in voting on the Charter.
Previous Charter reviews have shown the serious dangers of allowing government to shape how Charter review is organised. During the last review in 2015-16, after more than 192,000 members of the public submitted their views on the BBC’s future, the government openly dismissed their contributions.
The most important decisions about the 2016-2027 BBC Charter were not made publicly or democratically, but instead through a murky series of private negotiations, backroom lobbying and an intensely negative press campaign by the BBC’s rivals. The government also used its control over BBC funding to pressure it into accepting drastic reforms to the Charter that weakened its public service mission while benefitting commercial players.
- How could Charter review be made more democratic?
- The British public own and fund the BBC: we deserve to be equal and active partners in these once-in-a-generation debates about the BBC’s future. Tokenistic consultations, tickbox surveys and opaque industry lobbying will not deliver the legitimacy and new ideas that the BBC needs.
Our campaign is calling on the Government to immediately organise a series of Citizens’ Assemblies, hosted throughout the UK with participants selected by democratic lottery, which will put the British public at the heart of deciding the future of the BBC.
- How would Citizens’ Assemblies work for the BBC?
- Citizens’ Assemblies would give the public real power to debate and decide on the most important questions about the BBC’s future, including the scale of its services, how the BBC is governed, and how it is funded.
After selecting large groups of the British public by democratic lottery – ensuring that the full series of assemblies (individually and collectively) represent the UK population at large – each assembly would meet over a period of several months to collect evidence, invite witnesses and experts, debate their own experiences and perspectives, and collectively design proposals for BBC reform.
Numerous Citizens’ Assemblies have been held across the UK and around the world, and have given members of the public a direct and meaningful role in deciding major matters of public interest. Time and again these Assemblies have proven that when people from all walks of life are given the time, space and opportunity to deliberate together and weigh up the facts, they bring a breadth of wisdom and experience to find sensible, fair solutions that people can trust.
You can learn more about citizens’ assemblies from the Sortition Foundation.
