BBC Cuts to Hardtalk and Newsnight: How Axing Respected Journalism Damages the UK’s Global Reputation and Media Ecosystem

The BBC announced earlier this week that its Hardtalk show, presented by Stephen Sackur and broadcast on the BBC News Channel in the UK and internationally on BBC World News, was being axed. This is a shocking decision by the corporation, especially after the cuts to BBC Newsnight and its technology show, BBC Click.

While the BBC is in a difficult place because of its treatment by the previous Conservative government, who held the view that the license fee was outdated and biased against them, as a public service broadcaster, cutting respected news and journalism is creating an environment that damages the UK and its image and reputation abroad.

Over the last decade, the BBC and BBC News have maintained their position as a leading global news provider, a reputation that delivers influence in international audiences.

How Is BBC News funded?

Operating under a Royal Charter, the BBC is the UK’s public service broadcaster and is funded by both a license fee and its commercial operations.

In 2023/24, the BBC’s total annual income for the BBC amounted to ￡5.389 billion. This was split between ￡3.66 billion from the UK TV licence fee and ￡1.859 billion from commercial activities. Commercial revenue is generated through BBC Studios, global media and streaming, and other commercial ventures, such as programme sales and content licensing.?

From its latest Annual Report and Account for 2023/24 , for BBC News operations, the report highlights that a substantial portion of the BBC's budget is allocated to producing and delivering news and current affairs. The total expenditure for news and current affairs last financial year was approximately ￡321 million, down from ￡342 million the previous year. This budget includes costs for UK-based news as well as the BBC World Service.

For BBC News, the licence fee remains the primary funding source, supplemented by commercial returns from the BBC's global operations. The BBC World Service receives additional funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), with a grant of ￡104 million in 2023/24 to support its international news broadcasting.

BBC World News Channel, available outside the UK, is funded primarily through commercial revenues, not the UK licence fee. Unlike the domestic BBC services, BBC World News is an international, commercially operated service. Its funding sources include

This breakdown of income and expenditure indicates that the BBC's news operations rely heavily on the licence fee, and the decline in licence fee revenue due to a reduction in the number of households paying it has a direct impact on funding for news and other services. The BBC also faces pressures from inflation and the freeze in licence fee prices, which affects its ability to reinvest in new content

How Is BBC News perceived in the UK and internationally?

Over the last decade, the BBC has maintained its position as a leading global news provider, with its reputation continuing to influence both the UK and international audiences.

According to data from 2021, the BBC reached over 456 million people worldwide weekly, with its global audience steadily growing over the years. BBC News remains highly valued for its journalistic quality and impartiality, particularly through services like the BBC World Service, which bolsters the UK’s international soft power .

However, the BBC has faced challenges, especially domestically, where its funding model via the licence fee has become a point of political contention for the previous Conservative government. Increasing scrutiny over political bias and questions around the licence fee's sustainability have impacted public perception. Nevertheless, during crises like the pandemic, trust in BBC News surged, with 44% of the UK population expressing trust in its reporting in 2020

Yet, the BBC's audience has grown in emerging markets, such as Africa and parts of Asia, thanks to digital platforms. The corporation has strategically expanded its digital presence, adapting to the rise of video-driven consumption, especially among younger audiences, which remains crucial for sustaining its global reach.

What is the impact of changing people's media consumption habits worldwide?

The impact of changing media consumption on public trust in news and journalism, particularly outlets like the BBC, is notable. Several reports, including the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024 and the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer, highlight three key issues that affect the BBC. These are:

Decline in trust

The Reuters Institute report shows that trust in news globally remains low, stabilising at around 40%. This figure is 4% lower than it was during the height of the pandemic. The Edelman Trust Barometer further corroborates this, stating that only 43% of the UK public trusts the media, putting the UK among the least trusting nations globally.

Changing consumption patterns

As people increasingly turn to social media, YouTube, and platforms like TikTok for news, traditional outlets like the BBC face challenges. Platforms that prioritise visual content over written news are particularly attractive to younger audiences. In the UK, for instance, interest in news has almost halved since 2015, a concerning trend for traditional media .

Selective news avoidance

Many people also selectively avoid the news, with 39% admitting to often or sometimes avoiding it altogether . This avoidance is driven by feeling overwhelmed or disillusioned, especially with persistent negative political conflicts or crises.

These consumption shifts have led to a fragmentation of attention, particularly among younger generations, who are less likely to rely on the BBC for news. The BBC, with its focus on traditional, longer-form content like Newsnight, finds it challenging to compete with shorter, video-based news formats. This has driven some of the cost-cutting measures, such as the reduction of Newsnight and other investigative content.

What is the impact of having less investigative journalism?

Even as a communicator, cutting investigative journalism that holds business or political power to account is not good in any way, shape, or form, especially with the rise over the last ten years of misinformation that negatively influences people on lies and falsehoods.

Strategically, as the world tries to combat the scaling of misinformation, it needs the unique skillsets that journalists like Sacker and others have to hold people and power to account.

On 23 February 1981, I remember the attempted coup in Spain. Living in the Basque country, I recall what I now know was a media black-out. There were rumours of tanks in Burgos ready to roll into the Basque Country. I was told years later of phone lines being cut from overseas and family in the UK not being to reach us. The only news we had that we trusted was a radio that gave us news from the BBC on Long Wave. That’s how important the corporation was for me.

Every time I travel overseas, in a hotel I have a choice of International TV News sources and aside from watching news of wherever I am in I always tune in to CNN, the BBC and show’s like Stephen Sacker’s Hardtalk.

Working as an international strategist, I know how important it is to tell a story and how to build and manage relationships. Like other communicators and people in public and media relations, we have a small number of journalists who we respect because of how they hold, even our clients, to account.

Programmes like Hardtalk are funded from revenue from the license fee, because it is aired on the UK’s BBC News Channel, and because it is aired internationally on BBC World, from income from BBC World’s commercial operations.

What is the impact of less investigative journalism?

Firstly, investigative journalism it isn’t going away. It is evolving and adapting to how we share data publicly and privately.

Stephen Sackur talks about Hardtalk and the need for tough fact based journalism.

Investigative journalists and open-source investigators today have access to tools such as Google Earth, social media forensics, satellite imagery, and metadata analysis to track events, verify claims, and identify individuals or locations. The digital footprint that many people have on public, private or dark sights generates fingerprints that investigators from organisations like Bellingcat can use.

So while traditional newsrooms are shrinking due to financial pressures there is still a need to tell stories on long-form channels and programmes like Hardtalk and Newsnight.

In fact, open-source investigations have empowered journalists to uncover and verify hidden stories in new ways. As investigative journalism continues to evolve, the integration of digital tools and citizen-sourced data will become a permanent feature of the industry. Traditional media outlets like the BBC, The Financial Times, and The New York Times are already adapting to this new era of investigative journalism, blending their long-standing journalistic expertise with cutting-edge digital tools to maintain their reputation for high-quality reporting.

For The FT, their investigation into Wirecard and their fraud started in 2014 and continued all the way until June 2020 when the company admitted ‘money supposedly held in trustee accounts likely did not exist’ .

What is the impact of these decisions on communicators and advisors in business and governments?

Confidence is down. Trust around the world is down. And these are two critical components that drive business and politics trade.

Yes, amid this shifting media landscape, the role of communications, public and media relations has become ever more critical. The relationship between communciations and PR professionals with journalists is symbiotic. While social channels have given businesses and politicians owned channels through which they can communciate to their respective audiences, the need to reach mass numbers requires that relationships with respected news outlets and their journalists.

Communications professionals understand that journalists need access to reliable, timely information. In return, journalists provide businesses and politicians with the platform to communicate their messages, albeit not always on their own terms.

Smart communications advisors recognise the value of working closely with journalists. Especially if they are to get build and maintain trust with their audiences. This is especially critical during a crisis.

In summary,the UK needs a healthy news and media ecosystem that reports truth to power. Yes, audidences change. Consumers of new change and younger generations get their news from short-form platform. But that change doesn’t mean that in a world of cynicism and doubt there isn’t a need for A-list programmes that present not opinions.

The BBC’s global impact, particularly through the BBC World Service, extends the UK's influence in diplomacy and international relations by providing impartial news to regions that may otherwise lack access to reliable information. This, in turn, enhances the UK's global standing and reinforces its role as a defender of free speech and democratic values. Axing internationally respected programmes like Hardtalk and Newsnight in the UK because of budgetary constraints, does more damage given the value they provide into the country.

There is a need for news that delivers Hardfacts.

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