News Broadcasting
BBC extending the public’s right of appeal for license fee
MUMBAI: Following a review of how UK pubcaster BBC handles complaints it receives, the BBC Trust is proposing new ways to strengthen and simplify systems and, for the first time, is extending the public’s right of appeal to the Trust in serious cases of complaint about how the licence fee is collected.
BBC Trust vice-chairman Chitra Bharucha said, “The Trust represents the interests of all licence fee payers and this includes ensuring that the process for collecting licence fees is efficient and fair. The public – including the very small number who choose not to own a television set – needs a simple complaints’ system to handle concerns when things go wrong. For the first time, this complaints’ system will include a right of appeal to the Trust in the event that a serious matter cannot be resolved by BBC management.”
The Trust will be publishing its proposals for how the BBC should handle all complaints including plans to speed up the process for editorial and fair trading complaints. The Trust is inviting licence fee payers, the rest of the broadcasting industry, and anyone who’d like to get involved, to offer their views during a three-month consultation period.
Under the Trust’s plans, complaints against the BBC would still be addressed in the first instance by BBC management. Final appeals to the Trust would apply only once all other avenues had been exhausted.
Bharucha adds, “The BBC is owned by the people who pay for it and the Trust wants to ensure that complaints are received via a system which is open to everyone, consistent in its fairness to all, and simple to follow. For any complaints’ system to be effective, it must have the confidence of those who might choose to use it, and the Trust wants to hear from the public and the rest of the industry about the changes we propose to speed up and simplify the BBC’s complaints’ systems.”
The Trust is proposing a number of changes to how the BBC handles complaints about how the licence fee is collected. Since the Trust’s review started, systems have already been simplified by reducing the number of stages in the management complaints’ process.
In future, BBC management must account to the Trust for its complaints’ system and, although the Trust still expects most complaints to be resolved by TV Licensing or BBC management, it now plans, for the first time, to hear appeals in serious cases.
These could include appeals from people who feel they have repeatedly received an unsatisfactory response from the BBC or TV Licensing to their complaints about unfair treatment. For example, members of the public who have received a number of letters or house calls after they believe they have demonstrated they already possess a television licence or do not own a television set.
The Trust believes that reducing the period of time in which complainants can request an appeal to the Trust after receiving a response from BBC management from two months to one month would lead to a more efficient system, enabling appeals to the Trust to be taken more quickly than at present.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
