The Media Show

On The Media Show, the first discussion followed BBC cuts announced on Tuesday, including the closure of BBC 3, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra, after earlier programme and staffing cuts in news, radio and sport. The BBC is under pressure to save £500m by 2028 and is negotiating future funding with the government. Deputy Director-General Rhodri Talfan Davies said the current funding model was unsustainable and the licence fee was out of time, while acknowledging difficult choices across Radio 4, BBC Scotland and BBC 3. He said new director of news Rachel Jupp would set out plans next year after priorities including authoritative storytelling, investigations and modernising digital and social news, and that BBC News would look at stronger coordination between local, regional and national teams. He also said the BBC hoped the World Service would be funded directly by government and that a household levy was not favoured, while extending the licence fee to streaming services was among options.

Former BBC executive Roger Mosey, Labour MP Patrick Hurley and former Culture Secretary Baroness Morgan discussed the plans. Hurley raised concerns about cuts to Radio 4 and 5 Live and criticised the BBC management approach; Morgan said the BBC would have to be smaller but need not be worse and was sceptical of a streaming levy, suggesting charging for content and keeping the World Service taxpayer-funded. Mosey said the BBC was in a bad financial position, questioned whether a new funding mechanism would be ready by January 2028, and argued for an iPlayer-led approach while protecting news.

The programme then examined Channel 4 documentary The Experiment, in which members of the public toured a fake care facility for disabled people created by the programme and staffed by actors, with its ideology drawn from Nazi policies. Producer Nick Parnes said it aimed to explore the Nazi sterilisation and extermination of almost 300,000 disabled people and described echoes in current language in parliament and tabloids, while presenter Sophie Morgan said it tested whether attitudes today were closer to that history than people dared think. The discussion covered ethical questions about recording unsuspecting participants; Parnes said they were brought back the next day, told what had happened and signed two release forms, and that the aim was not a gotcha moment.