The newspaper veteran David Montgomery will on Thursday revive his long-held criticism of the BBC’s encroachment into native information provision when he accuses it of “predatory behaviour” which harms business rivals.
Sky Information has learnt that Mr Montgomery will use the foreword to the annual outcomes announcement of Nationwide World, the London-listed firm he runs, to launch a scathing assault on the company.
Mr Montgomery, whose firm owns titles together with The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Put up, has been a staunch critic of the BBC’s presence in on-line information, saying in 2019 that its remit wanted to be redefined.
On Thursday, he’ll say that Nationwide World has been at “the forefront of the campaigning in opposition to predatory behaviour by the BBC which makes use of taxpayer funds to compete on-line, threatening native unbiased journalism”.
“It’s exceptional that the BBC, financed by a obligatory tax, is permitted to implement its monopoly within the information sector month after month,” he’ll add in remarks which have been obtained by Sky Information.
“In January 2024, 3.1 billion web page views for BBC Information dwarfed the mixed complete of the UK’s 28 main unbiased information websites, together with MailOnline, The Solar and, after all, Nationwide World.
“In no different sector would such an unfair market be tolerated by regulators.”
Mr Montgomery has been pushing for the Information Media Affiliation, an business physique, to take a extra strong place in opposition to the BBC.
Sky Information is among the many commercially-owned channels which competes with the BBC within the provision of reports throughout completely different media platforms.
Nationwide World, which has a market worth of about £38m, was among the many potential bidders for The Every day Telegraph, holding talks with monetary backers earlier than an ill-fated deal was struck with the Abu Dhabi-funded funding car RedBird IMI.
Mr Montgomery desires his firm to transition from being a media enterprise with a selected experience in information journalism, to changing into a broader content material supplier throughout media platforms.
The BBC has confronted additional criticism this week from business teams over its plans to broadcast promoting as a part of its radio content material.
On Wednesday, Tim Davie, the BBC director-general was requested concerning the organisation’s information technique, rebutting the suggestion that the Company was answerable for the declining business provision of native information.
Tim Davie. Pic:PA
“I feel a few of these issues are structural, so for those who have a look at the decline of native print… have a look at the pattern strains there,” he informed the Tradition, Media and Sport Choose Committee.
“So I feel this isn’t the BBC inflicting this difficulty. And really, for those who have a look at the quantity of journalism we’re producing, it is usually very, very completely different or in a unique stage of protection to others out out there.”
