Burnham attacks ITV's regional record

Andy Burnham

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Culture secretary Andy Burnham has criticised ITV for failing to meet its regional quotas.

Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch today, Burnham said: "I'm very disappointed that ITV has missed its regional production quota for two years. These are legal requirements and not things to be negotiated or brushed away. It does raise questions about whether enough attention is being paid [to those requirements]."

Burnham stressed that regional programming was important to viewers, as revealed in Ofcom's PSB review, but added: "I do sense at times that the media world talks to itself a lot and misses where the viewers are, at home, in my constituency, watching Granada Reports…. We have to route this debate back in the interests of viewers."

Burnham joked that he was "Tough on London-centricity and tough on the causes of London-centricity."

The culture secretary also echoed his statements made at last week's Convergence Think Tank, arguing that it was important to maintain plurality, standards and quality despite the rapid pace of change in the industry.

He questioned the impact of product placement on standards in TV and suggested that broadcasters had other opportunities that could be exploited more fully such as online advertising.

He also stated that it was realistic for the standards that exist in television to apply in the online world and that there should be some "signposting or warnings" where prominent or popular content contained bad language, sex or indecency, but said he favoured self-regulation over legislation.

Burnham also signalled his faith in the BBC Trust and said that its recent report into news impartiality had "laid bare a series of issues that BBC management are being held to account on." He said it was up to both parties to resolve such issues and that his job was not to interfere but "to let them get on and do it."