BBC
statement in response to DCMS questions
The
BBC today (Thursday 11 December) welcomed the start of the Charter
Review process with the publication of the DCMS' questions
and launch of their public consultation.
It
also announced that it would complement this consultation with its
own programme of events to stimulate wide debate about the BBC's
future among all audiences.
BBC
Director-General, Greg Dyke, said today: "We are pleased that
the Secretary of State is committed to the continuation of a strong,
independent BBC and that she recognises that the BBC plays a unique
role in defining what Britain is as a nation.
"Given
the changes we are witnessing in both technology and society we
also believe she is right to stress in the document that Charter
Review will be both complex and significant.
"The
Secretary of State is asking interesting and challenging questions
and we look forward to an open and rigorous debate in which, of
course, the BBC will be playing its full part."
The
DCMS public consultation will continue until 31 March. During this
time the BBC will be using its airwaves and online sites to stimulate
debate and encourage as wide an audience as possible to think about
what the BBC means to them now and in the future.
This
will help shape the BBC's response to the DCMS' questions, which
will be published in March, along with its own vision and consultative
paper of what the BBC should be in the 21st century.
This
will be followed by a series of papers around big ideas that will
contribute to the debate throughout 2004.
The
BBC's Charter Review website
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