Funferal

BCI releases new policy on news commitment derogations

The BCI has completed their review of their policy on derogations from news and current affairs requirements. They have decided to keep the form of derogations the same – only allowing derogations from the 20% news/C.A. requirement for broadcasts from 1-7am – and to clarify the criteria which will influence whether derogations will be granted. These new criteria are:

• The impact the proposed derogation will have on the station’s Programme Policy Statement Commitments, and
• The contribution the derogation will make to the diversity and quality of news and current affairs output in the relevant franchise area.

Up to now:

The key consideration in granting a derogation is whether it would be beneficial to listeners. Stations applying for a derogation must set out how the proposed derogation would be beneficial to listeners in the relevant franchise area.

So the new policy introduces two key changes:

• Rather than having to argue that the derogation is beneficial, stations just have to show there remains a sufficiently diverse (and high quality) range of news and current affairs in their franchise area
• The commitments encapsulated in the Programme Policy Statements of individual stations will be considered in deciding whether to offer a derogation – this could be read cynically to say that stations that make fewer commitments to their communities will find it easier to get the derogation from news/C.A. for the 1-7am period.

Actually, I should clarify that point. Under the standard (statutory) policy you need to have current affairs for at least 20% of your broadcast time. With a derogation you don’t have to include your broadcasts from 1-7am as part of your total broadcast hours: so this isn’t necessarily about cutting current affairs from overnight programming (though that’s, of course, feasible) but about lowering the bar for the rest of the broadcast day.