Every licence payer in the UK has a vested interest in this blog. It’s a local issue of national importance.
The BBC seems intent on the closure of factual production in Birmingham. This will have a direct impact on every household of the West Midlands that watches news programmes, every cameraman, journalist, presenter of any station and perhaps most importantly to the region and its standing in the UK.
With the loss of this facility virtually no network programme making (besides some small independents) will remain in the West Midlands. In the 70s and 80s huge chunks of BBC and ITV output was made at either Central (previously ATV) or at BBC in Pebble Mill. That has gradually been eroded as production has moved to Manchester/Salford or London, in both cases.
There has been an outcry when other industries have moved out of the West Midlands - but the politicians remain silent over this particular industry. Shouldn’t this be a key issue for those hoping to be Mayor of Birmingham or Police Commissioner of West Midlands Police?
If you live in the West Midlands and aspire to a life in the media - you will have to move away in the future to get a job - most already have to.
The BBC is making cuts to network newsgathering - but again it is concentrating its efforts in Salford, London & of course Cardiff and Glasgow as well. Is anyone speaking up for Birmingham? No – didn’t think so.
Can you imagine another situation like the riots without a regional BBC prescence able to keep you up-to-date and warn of any dangers? How many of you kept checking your radio, television or BBC online to check on the latest developments as the situation escalated? Or what would have happened if Tariq Jahan, widely attributed with stopping the riots following the death of his son, had appealed for calm and there were no news teams on the scene to report it?
Incredibly, BBC 5Live are getting rid of their dedicated reporters in the Midlands!
If you work in the media how long before you have to move to another region to stand any chance of continuing in your chosen career or else find a new career?
There are clear holes in the BBC argument to remove production. Most of them are finding their basis in austerity. They have a lease on the Mailbox until 2026, so plans are afoot to take half the building away, pay huge redundancies & relocation fees (funded by your licence fees), then doing the same again at some stage in the future by moving admin staff from London to Birmingham. What is the cost of not keeping the creative industries the West Midlands?
At present the West Midlands boats the “Second City.” With so many creative industry jobs already moving to Manchester, Bristol and London, the consequential increase in unemployment and news vacuum you can bet that the success of those three cities will be tantamount to the demise of the West Midlands. It is set to create a Bermuda triangle like space of everything in between.
Discussions include moving the rural affairs expertise from Birmingham to Bristol because it shares some similarities with the Natural History Unit based there. That’s like asking the LTA and FA to share because they are both sports played with a ball. Go figure.
The problem that Birmingham & its broadcasters have, is that they have no powerful advocates on the national stage, and for that reason they are overlooked. I understand great incentives were offfered to ITV and BBC to move to Salford. Birmingham (or Wolverhampton or Coventry ) could have done the same, but didn't. But that doesn’t have to be the end of it.
Bottom line is that network news and radio's coverage will be severely hit in places like the Midlands. While there are cuts in Salford and London too, they're not going to have any serious impact on the output from those areas.
The BBC powers that be will argue that their correspondents in Salford and London can easily get in the car and travel to areas where stories are, when they are big enough. How can they decide what is difficult without a local prescence and how can they react to breaking news? I’d suggest they can’t. We have some of the finest broadcast journalists in the country and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to lose them.
I’m not originally from the West Midlands but I have made it my home. For me that means it matters. Make it matter to you too. You’ll be poorer off without it in more ways than one and the effects on the region as a go-to place for employment, tourism, and events could be lost forever.
• So let’s Save BBC Birmingham.
• Let’s ask our politicians and councilors to Save BBC Birmingham.
• Let’s ask the Birmingham Mayor to candidates to Save BBC Birmingham.
• If you care about your region let’s Save BBC Birmingham.
• If you work in the media or PR let’s Save BBC Birmingham
• Let’s ask the candidates for commissioner of West Midlands Police to Save BBC Birmingham.
• If you live in the West Midlands Let’s Save the West Midlands…….
• If you live anywhere in the country and value local news and factual production let’s Save BBC Birmingham.
Save BBC Birmingham – after all….you need it - you pay for it.
#SaveBBCBirmingham
