BBC Trust imposes new current affairs obligations

The BBC Trust, the public broadcaster’s governing body, has introduced what it describes as new protections for the amount of current affairs programming on BBC One, the broadcaster’s flagship channel. 

A change to the BBC One service licence now requires the BBC to broadcast at least 40 hours of current affairs programming in peak time on the flagship channel each year.

The move follows a commitment made by the Trust in its service review of BBC News and Current Affairs, published earlier in the year. The review found that audiences expect more and BBC current affairs should be securing wider recognition and impact.

The Trust has also strengthened the expectations set out in the service licence for the BBC’s overall approach to current affairs, with an improved emphasis on current affairs output that goes “beyond observation and illustration to offer a broad audience insight into, and revelation or analysis of, issues of national and international concern.”