<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Dear All,</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The BBC’s Lord Hall is about to make the first of four speeches outlining the BBC’s future. What will it mean for community radio?</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Among the specific plans he will outline includes a multi-million pound investment in journalism, with a network of 100 <u class="">public service</u> reporters across the country to deliver news from courts and councils. </div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">This is a great opportunity for community radio <i class="">as a body</i> to tap into a publicly-funded journalistic resource that could be and should be working directly with local stations.</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The BBC is also going to create a 'hub' for data journalism, giving <u class="">local newspapers</u> access to its statistical analysis, and offer audio and video clips free to other websites. </div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">I hope the CMA is talking with both the BBC and DCMS. </div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Providing licence fee funded resources to privately owned media organisations ahead of not-for-profit community broadcasters is clearly unacceptable. A partnership with the BBC should have ambition and deliver outcomes that are more tangible than is currently framed in the memorandum of understanding.</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Local news is essential for a strong democracy and community radio needs to be at the forefront of its delivery. What the BBC is tabling is an unprecedented offer that would put millions into a local journalism partnership. Community radio needs to be an equal partner in that.</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">David Duffy</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.8em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><a href="http://theradiopeople.co.uk" class="">theradiopeople.co.uk</a> </div></body></html>