Conclusions and recommendations
1. We
recommend that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport takes
more care to include Northern Ireland in its future thinking and
documentation on UK-wide broadcasting. (Paragraph 8)
2. We
recommend that the Minister for Creative Industries visits Northern
Ireland as soon as possible, and thereafter, at least once a year
subsequently to become fully acquainted with the broadcast environment
there. As long as broadcasting in Northern Ireland remains the
responsibility of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport,
we recommend that that Department attempts, at the very least,
to build some confidence in Northern Ireland that it is properly
and fully aware of its responsibilities. (Paragraph 9)
3. We
attach fundamental importance to the continuity of service and
we therefore urge the UK Government to ensure that its discussions
with the Government of the Republic of Ireland guarantee that
there is no loss of service or amenity to the people of Northern
Ireland. We ask for definitive assurance on this point before
the end of this Parliament.
(Paragraph 12)
4. We
welcome the BBC's commitment to raise its level of production
in Northern Ireland to a level broadly proportionate to Northern
Ireland's population share of the UK. We note that it intends
to do so by 2016, but strongly urge the BBC to make every effort
to reach 3% of production from Northern Ireland more rapidly than
that and to treat the 3% target not as a 'ceiling', but as a minimum.
(Paragraph 18)
5. We
recommend that the Government urge Ofcom to monitor levels of
production from Northern Ireland by the BBC and Channel 4 to ensure
that their targets, as public service broadcasters, are met as
speedily as is practicable and without negative impacts on the
quality of production. (Paragraph
21)
6. We
strongly recommend that the Government ask the BBC seriously and
urgently to consider locating a programme commissioner permanently
within Northern Ireland with the express mandate of improving
and increasing production from the Province.
(Paragraph 25)
7. We
recommend that the Government seek to engage with broadcasters
and producers so as more accurately to reflect life as it is in
Northern Ireland in a way that is understandable throughout the
rest of the UK. We recommend that the Government encourage the
BBC and Channel 4 to use programmes made within the province for
UK-wide broadcasting to address the lack of portrayal and to help
ensure the people throughout the rest of the UK have a clearer
perception of Northern Ireland - its people, its geography and
wildlife, history and culture; and of its history and culture
in times before "the Troubles".
(Paragraph 30)
8. We
recommend that given the strength, popularity and reach of UTV
as a competitor to the BBC in Northern Ireland at present, an
IFNC should be introduced only once the lessons of the pilots
in Scotland, Wales and an English region have been learned. We
note that those three areas have been chosen for pilots because
continued news provision is under significant immediate threat
in each, whereas this is not at present the case in Northern Ireland.
We therefore recommend that the Government consult with Ofcom
and broadcasters in Northern Ireland after the pilots to fully
assess the suitability of INFCs within the province, taking into
account its current unique position within the UK in terms of
its news provision. (Paragraph
46)
9. We
recommend that the Government assess the non-news based needs
of Northern Ireland, and also actively and urgently consider devolving
to the Northern Ireland Assembly the administration of funding
for local, non-news programming possibly to include drama, children's
content and current affairs in Northern Ireland.
(Paragraph 50)
10. We
recommend that, given its legal obligations under the Belfast
Agreement, the UK Government prioritise the guarantee of funding
for the Irish Broadcasting Fund beyond March 2011.
(Paragraph 57)
11. We
recommend that the Government fully assess minority language provision,
particularly the provision of Ulster Scots, in Northern Ireland
and ensure that it is meeting its obligations as stated in the
Belfast Agreement and the European Charter for Regional and Minority
Languages. (Paragraph 60)
12. This
short inquiry has clearly demonstrated that Northern Ireland is
culturally neglected by the BBC, Channel 4 and those who commission
television programmes within the UK and by those with ministerial
responsibilities in the UK Government. Concerted efforts need
urgently to be directed towards eradicating that neglect. (Paragraph
61)
13. UTV has the biggest
audience share of any local news provider in the UK, demonstrating
a clear demand for output produced in Northern Ireland. Further
to satisfy that demand, we greatly welcome the emergence of a
number of small independent companies within Northern Ireland.
(Paragraph 62)
14. An independently
funded news consortium pilot may not be an immediate priority,
but we repeat that the portrayal of Northern Ireland throughout
the rest of the UK and beyond is poor. It is also crucial that
a fund for non-news provision, to be administered by the Northern
Ireland Assembly, should be provided by the Government. (Paragraph
63)
15. Of all the public
service broadcasters, it is the BBC that retains primacy. We believe
that it has not adequately discharged its responsibilities in
Northern Ireland, and we repeat our call for a commissioner for
programming to be based in Belfast. (Paragraph 64)
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