The countryside and the BBC

Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Tim Bonner writes: The political party conferences are not generally the most rural of events, but the Alliance has always believed that it is important to fly the countryside flag in whichever city each of the parties gathers. Having hosted fringe events at the Liberal Democrat and Labour conferences we were at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham last Monday where one of our two fringe meetings focused on the BBC and whether it was delivering for the countryside in the context of the upcoming BBC charter renewal.

Unfortunately the BBC refused our invitation to take part citing a policy of not participating in party conference events (although a BBC Director did take part in another conference fringe event). We did, however, have a knowledgeable panel made up of Country Life Editor Mark Hedges, who has just participated in a BBC documentary about the magazine, North Devon MP Peter Heaton-Jones who spent more than 20 years as a BBC journalist and Sophie Chalk of the Voice of the Listeners and Viewers who has also worked for the BBC as well as many other broadcasters.

Introducing the debate I noted the extraordinary growth in popularity of programmes like 'Countryfile', but suggested that the fundamental question is whether BBC programming as a whole properly represents rural people, or is a lot of that programming 'about' the countryside, rather than 'for' the countryside.

Mark Hedges suggested from his experience that the BBC does not like, or want to realise, that things do die. He made the comparison with a supermarket, where the chicken you see wrapped in plastic, and the chicken you see walking around, have somehow become two separate things.

Largely the panel agreed that there was a need for more recognition within the BBC of the separate requirements of rural communities, that BBC local radio had a real opportunity to fill part of that demand and, perhaps most importantly, that the current debate over the renewal of the BBC Charter provided the platform to make the case for the BBC to better serve the rural community.

Sophie Chalk pointed out that one of the public policies in the new draft Charter requires the BBC: "To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom's nations and regions"

The rural community is one of those the Charter commits the BBC to reflect, represent and serve and the Alliance will ensure that point is made during the parliamentary debate on the Charter and after its adoption.

Follow Tim on Twitter @CA_TimB