The development of the BBC's MyLocal – an online service providing continuously updated information by region – could lead to the broadcaster favouring a 'new localism' over its UK-wide responsibilities, said the Trust's report on the BBC's network news coverage of the UK's nations.
While these plans could free users and the corporation from 'the problem of addressing the considerable regional variations' within the UK, they could negatively affect the BBC's commitment to delivering UK-wide news, the report said.
“The model just referred to [MyLocal] could become a cop-out, with the BBC abrogating or, more probably, simply and subtly and perhaps not deliberately downgrading its UK-wide responsibilities in the interests of the new localism,” it stated.
The report said it was concerned that parts of the corporation were not sufficiently 'exercised about the BBC's coverage of the nations and regions', as they felt increased online and digital output would solve the issue.
An increased digital focus should not detract from the BBC's duties to 'sustain citizenship' and represent the UK and its nations and regions, the report said.
“In our view, editors and producers at the moment are not sufficiently sensitive to these issues. Left to their own devices, they and their successors could in future become even less sensitive,” it said.
Issues of accessibility are also a factor in continuing to deliver content across a range of media, the report added, as it suggested that the audience's use of and access to online material did not support an online-only strategy for regional content.
“Our proposal for local news via broadband is a response to the high priority that licence fee payers across the UK place on locally relevant news services. It will deliver an additional, local tier of BBC newsgathering across the UK; it will not lead to any dilution in the BBC’s strong commitment to providing UK-wide news and also in the nations services for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively, indeed it will enhance these services,” a statement from BBC Management said in response to the review.
Suggested improvements to the BBC's network coverage of the UK's nations included the use of bbc.co.uk to provide more frequently updated comparisons of the different countries' domestic policies.
In addition the site could create a page showing questions and answers on regional issues, the report said.
The report hopes the BBC will address the issues of its network coverage of the four UK nations by 2010.
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