As the race to replace Boris Johnson takes a quantum leap, BBC and Channel 4 focus on Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss’s record on public broadcasts – Analysis

As the race to replace Boris Johnson as the UK’s next Prime Minister boils down to the last two, the heads of BBC New Broadcasting House and Channel 4 Horseferry Road will review the public broadcasting records of former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and the Secretary of Affairs. Foreign Liz Truss.

Culture secretary of both Johnson stations, Nadine Dorries, recently announced a review on the future of the BBC’s canon and, more existentially, on the legislation to privatize Channel 4. Publishers now hope these drastic measures will change.

However, worryingly for the BBC, politics Last week, Sunack privately said he was ready to cancel the £ 159 ($ 190) annual fee and seek alternative financing models when the BBC statute expires in 2027. BBC chiefs said they were open to new ideas. The e models are expected to establish future funding principles in the coming weeks, but losing the guaranteed £ 3.8 billion ($ 4.6 billion) annually would be a major blow.

During his seven years as an MP, Sunack spoke little of the BBC in Parliament, without taking the time to praise loyal BBC presenters Julia Bradbury and Eric Robson in a waterfront debate shortly after your pick.

Both Sunak and Truss are representatives of the free market, a political ideology that does not lend itself to well-funded public broadcasting. And both are admirers of Margaret Thatcher, who was skeptical of the BBC during her 11 years in power.

Since the war broke out in Ukraine, Truss has taken a break several times to praise BBC News’s ability to report and counter fake news narratives from state-sponsored organizations, such as Russia’s RT.

“It is absolutely correct to speak of its importance BBC in dealing with the Russian people, “he said during the last debate.

The two will go head-to-head in the BBC debate on Monday, when they will be interviewed individually. This day Presented by Nick Robinson in the coming weeks.

Privatization

Candidates for the privatization of Channel 4 have held public gunpowder until now.

However, as chancellor, the Sunak department signed the station’s sales plan, which began its passage to parliament in May. The Sunak Treasury had previously claimed to be able to raise around 1 billion pounds ($ 1.2 billion) from the sale.

He hasn’t publicly protested the move, though he may want to hear a recent poll that put the privatization of Channel 4 at the bottom of conservative voters’ priority list.

Truss has also remained silent on Channel 4, although, once again, his penchant for the free market economy may not endear him to the stereotypically liberal network.

The candidate who nearly pulled her underpants in the last two, Penny Mordaunt, was widely regarded as the most likely to reverse privatization and had previously praised the broadcaster in Parliament.

Johnson’s resignation paid for the launch of the BBC’s license fee review and a Channel 4 parliamentary debate to be held this week, and broadcasters will now listen closely from the election campaign for any signs that his future may be in the offing. Best insured under a government led by Sunak or Trusi.

The next general election is in 20 months and since then Sunack or Truss could oversee the biggest changes in the UK public broadcaster in a generation.