Northern voices should not be lost at the BBC - The Yorkshire Post says

Major question marks hang over its funding model after the licence fee was frozen for two years.

The BBC should not be encroaching on space that is already occupied in the British media landscape.

However, it would be remiss to not acknowledge schemes such as the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting service have played an instrumental role in providing coverage to communities that were being overlooked. What the national broadcaster’s restructure provides is an opportunity for communities to reflect on how they want society to be reflected.

Olivia Blake, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, was right to urge the BBC to broadcast more northern voices. Ms Blake said it was rare to hear northern accents on national media but these voices were particularly important, and questioned what the broadcaster was doing to ensure talent from regional teams was being spotted.

Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, during the public accounts committee session conceded that “this has been an issue in terms of migrating people through the system” but insisted that the broadcaster was making progress.

The BBC needs to remember that it is a national broadcaster, representing all parts of the UK. Therefore, it is important the BBC ensures that northern voices are broadcast. As Mr Davie says: “Certainly the idea that you have to have one certain kind of accent or be a certain kind of person to succeed in the BBC would be disastrous for us and we need to be clear about that.”