Director general to warn of threat to social unity amid rising dominance of ‘west coast giants’

The UK’s public service broadcasters face a David versus Goliath fight against “west coast giants” to protect British values and prevent the spread of social unease and division, the BBC director general will warn this week.

In one of his most significant interventions, Tony Hall will take aim at the US “Fang” companies – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google – in a speech to BBC staff in London.

Britain faces greater challenges than at any time since the 1970s from tech companies dominating global media, he will say, describing the moment as a time of “breathtaking, seismic change”.

“Technology and social media can add to this sense of social unease and division. Too often, it can distort our view of one another and allow us to live in imagined communities where we only really engage with those who share our views.

“Fake news compounds that challenge, eating away at trust in the media – including in the BBC – and blurring the lines between reality and so-called ‘alternative facts’,” Lord Hall will say. 

Citing big market interventions such as Disney and Comcast, the media world is consolidating at a speed not seen before, and the BBC needs to change radically to meet the challenge, he will say. Old business models are being ripped up and “the global media landscape is likely to be dominated by four, perhaps five, businesses of the west coast of America”.

These west coast giants will “skilfully mine every ounce of personal data to drive growth and profit”. They will “pluck established talent wherever they can find it, but their business isn’t to inspire the next generation of British talent”, he will argue.

Public service broadcasting in the UK and the BBC can continue to thrive, he will say, but only if it accelerates reform, and getting it right is vital for the future of British creativity. He will argue that the value of British public service broadcasting matters more than ever in the era of fake news.

To back up that idea Hall will lay out a plan for the BBC to set a “gold standard” for broadcast news, invest in and promote new talent, back creative ideas, reinvent and enhance services such as iPlayer, and prioritise reaching young audiences. Post-Brexit, he will signal he wants to work with other public service broadcasters on how the BBC responds.

Despite the Fang companies, available in more than half of British homes, on average the great majority of TV output viewed in the UK is still British content, even among younger audiences, he will say. And he will argue that there is real potential for co-production and commercial growth to keep pace with the global players and safeguard Britain’s creative track record.

The BBC may not be “the biggest kid on the block any more”, but Hall will say: “Nobody is fighting harder for Britain and for our audiences. In our fight against fake news ... in our commitment to diverse communities the length and breadth of the UK ... in the values that we project to the rest of the world ... and in the creativity that means so much to every one of us.”