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Politics
Kate Plummer
Apr 05, 2022
Nadine Dorries says the only way Boris would lose her support is ...
Indy
The government are privatising Channel 4 and not everyone is pleased about it.
The publicly owned channel, which was founded by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1982 to deliver programmes for under-served audiences and is funded by advertising, is going to be sold, with the money from the sale being reinvested in a "creative dividend" to be shared among the TV industry.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: "Channel 4 rightly holds a cherished place in British life and I want that to remain the case. I have come to the conclusion that government ownership is holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon.
"A change of ownership will give Channel 4 the tools and freedom to flourish and thrive as a public service broadcaster long into the future."
Channel 4 rightly holds a cherished place in British life and I want that to remain the case. I have come to the conclusion that government ownership is holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon. 1/3— Nadine Dorries (@Nadine Dorries) 1649103673
But a spokesperson for Channel 4 disagreed with her analysis, saying: "With over 60,000 submissions to the government's public consultation, it is disappointing that today's announcement has been made without formally recognising the significant public interest concerns which have been raised."
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They added that there needed to be a "lengthy legislative process and political debate", saying: "Channel 4 remains legally committed to its unique public-service remit.
"The focus for the organisation will be on how we can ensure we deliver the remit to both our viewers and the British creative economy across the whole of the UK."
Here's how other people have reacted to the news and Dorries comments:
For me, the most depressing aspect is that she was too thick even to come up with a better lie than this, one that didn\u2019t further reveal she knows absolutely nothing at all about the industry she is vandalising.https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1511076442980896769\u00a0\u2026— Tom Peck (@Tom Peck) 1649143555
The sale of C4 will inflict huge damage on homegrown creative companies, all to silence a critical news outlet, and, as if it even needs mentioning, make a few quid for their mates while they\u2019re about ithttps://twitter.com/nadinedorries/status/1511076442980896769\u00a0\u2026— Jed Mercurio (@Jed Mercurio) 1649143433
It already competes even though that\u2019s not its remit. Their streaming service is the biggest in the UK and free to use. Netflix & Amazon cannot compete with C4 News and strands such as Unreported World & Dispatches. You know this.https://twitter.com/nadinedorries/status/1511076442980896769\u00a0\u2026— Adil Ray OBE (@Adil Ray OBE) 1649141749
Apart from anything else, why on Earth would Channel 4 be competing with Netflix and Amazon? They occupy - very successfully- and very different niche. All4 is already a successful streaming service. Either you don\u2019t know this *and should* or this is just dishonest.https://twitter.com/nadinedorries/status/1511076442980896769\u00a0\u2026— Prof Paul Bernal (@Prof Paul Bernal) 1649141583
What a pile of absolute horseshit. You don\u2019t understand a single thing about broadcasting. All you\u2019re doing is destroying UK creative industries because you don\u2019t like awkward questions from a news outlet that holds you to account. Disgraceful.— Emma Kennedy\ud83d\udc99 (@Emma Kennedy\ud83d\udc99) 1649105000
Selling @Channel4 would be economically illiterate, culturally devastating and a hammer blow to the independent production industry. Selling it saves no taxpayer money, it harms creative diversity and undermines a great British export. It\u2019s vandalism.— Chris Bryant (@Chris Bryant) 1649097534
When it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t privatise it. Channel 4 is doing brilliantly - so why change a winning formula? Ideological claptrap— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew Adonis) 1649107590
Minister\u2019s refuse to help rocketing energy bills and food prices. Yet happy to privatise Channel 4, which doesn\u2019t cost the public a penny. Shameful decision, driven by Tory dogma. Channel 4 is at the forefront of levelling up, investigative journalism and nurturing new talent.https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1511042683313299460\u00a0\u2026— Chris Elmore MP (@Chris Elmore MP) 1649097242
Channel 4 is a brilliantly British idea. The people\u2019s channel, duty bound to make programmes others won\u2019t, bat for the underdog and fear nobody. And it costs us nothing.\n\nYet the government are selling it off. They say they love Britain, and then tear the best bits of it apart.— Darryl Morris \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Darryl Morris \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1649102119
*Spins the random announcement generator* \n\n"Looks like today we have launching a Treasury NFT and privatising Channel 4."\n\n"Good stuff let's go with that."— Sam Freedman (@Sam Freedman) 1649095700
My full comment on the breaking news that Channel 4 is to be sold off pic.twitter.com/O3QxXmIuvj— Lucy Powell MP (@Lucy Powell MP) 1649099665
The sale of Channel 4 is politicians and civil servants thinking they know more about how to run a business than the people who run it. Very unconservative. Mrs Thatcher, who created it, never made that mistake.— Damian Green MP (@Damian Green MP) 1649099959
Channel 4 is publicly owned, not publicly funded. It doesn't cost the tax payer a penny. It also, by charter, commissions content but doesn't make/own its own. It's one of the reasons we have such a thriving indy sector in places like Glasgow. This is the opposite of levelling up— Ruth Davidson (@Ruth Davidson) 1649139344
This is cultural vandalism from a government that\u2019s run out of ideas, run out of road and has no interest in levelling up.https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/04/nadine-dorries-to-press-ahead-with-plan-to-privatise-channel-4?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other\u00a0\u2026— Angela Rayner (@Angela Rayner) 1649099930
Nothing screams a rudderless government more than this. \n\nSelling off Channel 4, which doesn\u2019t cost the tax-payer a penny anyway, to what is likely to be a foreign company, makes absolutely no sense. It will cost jobs & opportunities in Yorkshire and hit our creative economy.https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1511042683313299460\u00a0\u2026— Lucy Powell MP (@Lucy Powell MP) 1649097983
Be absolutely clear. This isn\u2019t about innovation or the arts or creative potential. A government of thin-skinned vandals is taking revenge on a critic by destroying it.https://news.sky.com/story/government-expected-to-sell-channel-4-as-public-ownership-is-holding-it-back-12582450\u00a0\u2026— Jonathan Lis (@Jonathan Lis) 1649098134
Channel 4 does not cost the public any money. It\u2019s profitable. It supports an independent TV production industry across the UK. It nurtures new talent. It invests in investigative & foreign journalism like no other. C4 is an asset to the UK. There is no good reason to privatise.— Katie Arnold (@Katie Arnold) 1649105749
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