John Whittingdale is a committed free-marketeer. Credit: Jon Super / PA Images
Want a glimpse of the culture minister’s real agenda for the BBC? Just turn to pages 112-115 of the government’s White Paper and the commissioned questions asked by the polling agency. They are very revealing.
Amongst other things, respondents are asked whether the BBC is “crowding out the competition”; whether commercial radio suffers because of BBC services; whether the licence fee is good value, and whether it should be replaced by a household levy or subscription; whether there should be top-slicing; and whether cross-promotion should be allowed. There are also some very strangely worded statements about distinctiveness, which must have had the polling company’s questionnaire designers squirming in their seats.
