For the past 5 years Richard has worker as Director of BBC Global News, He felt the current assault on PSB across the world reflected three things: the transition to digital, the fragmentation of audiences and consequent increased competition, and the economic downturn. In the UK, however, the British public still strongly supported the BBC, with levels of trust growing and underlying political support remaining firm. Richard thought James Murdoch’s recent attack had failed to understand that PSB provides a shared public space in the UK, independent and without paywalls or any other barriers.

The BBC was responding to current concerns in three ways: by operating with greater transparency, measuring its impact, and retracting in some areas. “Transparency”, he said “was the new objectivity.” The BBC was committed to spending no more than 10% of its income on overheads. There would be public consultation before final decisions on any cuts in services were taken.

As for global media, there had been seismic shifts, with new technologies and partnerships helping to give the BBC a global reach of more than 230 million people across the BBC’s international services. The BBC’s commitment to independent debate was needed more than ever, with many governments around the world pushing hard against media freedom. Richard Sambrook answered questions from FPA members about - among other matters - the jamming of services by Iran, and the level of salaries at the BBC, and about his new job as a Vice Chairman and Head of Content for Edelman.

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Christopher Wyld