Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Channel 4 privatisation would be bad for journalism

Channel 4 privatisation would be bad for journalism

After months ducking the issue, the Prime Minister was forced to confirm last week that the Government is considering selling off Channel 4 to the private sector.

It came following a question from the former broadcaster, now SNP culture and media spokesman, John Nicolson at Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Tory Government has been very noisy about BBC charter renewal but deliberately quiet about the fact it was proceeding with proposals to privatise C4.

It seems Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is hell-bent on the move. Despite publicly denying any decision for some time, he now says it would be OK as the channel would retain its remit in the event of privatisation.

Let’s be clear the sell-off would be bad for journalism, the creative sector and would mean job losses. The financial case doesn’t even stack up, according to C4 chairman Lord Burns, who claimed there was “little financial benefit” in Government plans to privatise the broadcaster.

It’s thought a sell-off could raise more than £1 billion, but funnily enough it seems George Osborne is lukewarm on the idea as he doesn’t think the benefit outweighs the stooshie it would create.

Selling the company to the private sector would also oblige it to reduce the number of independent firms it commissions, meaning jobs would be lost.

C4’s chief executive David Abraham said privatisation could lead to it commissioning from a similar number of “indies” as ITV and Channel 5, since working with a wide range of such firms was “not an efficient model to maximise profits”.

The sell-off is bad for journalism as it risks the channel’s editorial independence being compromised by shareholders and advertisers.

Management has proposed an alternative company structure limited by guarantee that would maintain non-profit status, but John Whittingdale isn’t interested and is hell-bent on privatisation.

There is the possibility of a green paper on the issue in 2016. I hope party politics are put aside and MPs from across the chamber join the SNP to stop Whittingdale in his tracks. Can you imagine 7pm without Jon Snow and his colourful ties?