MPs see it, publishers see it — when will Ofcom realise even its own data shows the damage it is letting the BBC do to local journalism?

The BBC’s share of local news consumption in the UK has rocketed in the past few years as it has diverted resources to directly compete with existing news websites, new data collated by regulator Ofcom has revealed.

Yet despite its own data being seemingly compelling, Ofcom maintains that its decision to let the BBC massively expand its local news services online was the right thing to do.

MPs, preparing to determine the future of the BBC, however, disagree.

The Beeb, which scrapped swathes of its local radio shows to divert cash into creating more online local journalism, was responsible for 34% of all local news page views in England in Q1 2025, the same as its average in 2024.

That compares to just 20% in 2022, and 26% in 2023, when it first began ramping up its online text and images news reporting.

As a result, local news from existing local publishers has seen share fall from 80% to 66%.

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Other data published by Ofcom in its annual review of the BBC showed that 45% of people in the UK say they get local news from the BBC, compared to 32% for local newspaper websites, 18% for the websites of local or regional news magazines, and 15% for what it called ‘other local news websites such as BirminghamLive’ — which it also a website attached to a local newspaper.

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The BBC has consistently said it is not having a material impact on local publishers online, instead saying the challenges face by local publishers are down to changes at Facebook and Google.

Publishers, however, have pointed to the fact the BBC’s competition, essentially underwritten by the compulsory licence fee, against local publishers creates an uneven playing field.

The BBC, for example, doesn’t have to worry about adverts to fund its local news, and also uses TV, radio and other parts of the website to promote local news — while still struggling to link to local news publishers, something it says it has been trying to solve since around 2015.

Ofcom sided with the BBC’s rationale for expanding local news coverage, claiming it would only have a minimal impact on local news publishers — a statement critics of Ofcom suggested also revealed a lot about how little Ofcom knows about how local news works online.

However, when the BBC’s growth in audience share in England — where it has invested heavily — is compared with trends in other UK nations where the BBC has not unspun local radio to compete with local publishers, local publishers appear to be vindicated.

In Wales, where the BBC has not expanded so rapidly, its market share has remained static. Similarly in Northern Ireland, the BBC’s market share has actually fallen.

Ofcom is slowly shifting its position. Having been adamant the BBC’s plans wouldn’t have an impact, in a report last autumn it conceded that the BBC was now ‘an additional headwind’ for local publishers.

In its annual review, Ofcom said: “Our overall view on the BBC’s position in local news has remained the same as those stated in the Review of Local Media report, as the updated data shows broadly the same picture across the audiovisual, audio and online sectors.”

But Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association, said: “Ofcom’s report exposes a structural imbalance that can no longer be brushed aside. The regulator acknowledges again that the BBC’s rapid growth in online local news is contributing to the pressures faced by commercial providers.

“Local news publishers — operating without the BBC’s scale and public funding advantage — are being squeezed at the exact moment when independent, plural local journalism has never been more vital to communities.

“The Charter Renewal process is the chance to rebalance the relationship and get it right. We should celebrate the BBC’s strengths, but we must also ensure that its expansion does not inadvertently hollow out the diverse, sustainable local news ecosystem a healthy democracy depends on.

“A renewed Charter must introduce guardrails, transparency, and the competitive fairness needed so that the BBC and commercial local journalism can genuinely complement each other — rather than tilt the market further out of balance.”

And now MPs are getting involved

Ofcom’s position over the BBC in the local news sector is also increasingly being questioned in Parliament.

Even Ofcom’s own research revealed the BBC was picking up millions of additional page views, and creating hundreds of extra articles, in areas where it had expanded first.

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The BBC is also facing fresh criticism over its strategy regarding local, both for its deep cuts to local radio — which has seen many stations reduced to just a few hours of local output on weekdays, and only regionalised or national output at the weekend — and for its impact on local publishers.

Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey told a Westminster Hall debate this week: “Cuts to BBC local radio have stripped many communities of genuinely local programming, and that has particularly affected older audiences, disabled people and ethnic minority communities, who rely most on trusted news. These damaging cuts should be reversed, with renewed investment in live local radio and digital journalism in news deserts where no other local provision exists.”

She was supported by York Central MP Rachael Maskell who said: “The reality is that the BBC’s removal of local radio content has seen its listenership fall by 27%. I really hope that the Minister will reverse that and ensure that there is no more playing with words — I am thinking of “neighbourhood radio”, which actually means regional or beyond.

Mid-Derbyshire MP Jonathan Davies said: “We must be mindful of how coverage of local news on the BBC News website has contributed to the decline of local newspapers.

“We cannot have a situation where the local media landscape is monolithic because the size and scale of the BBC has drowned out all its competitors.

“The BBC-funded local democracy reporting service, which employs some reporters at local papers, has gone some way to mitigate that issue, and consideration should be given to whether that service should be expanded.”

Culture minister Stephanie Peacock told MPs: “We are considering how the BBC can deliver more through others, working collaboratively and in partnership with organisations across the creative economy and the local news sector — something I have heard from my own local paper.”

The minister added that the role of Ofcom in regulating the BBC would be reviewed and discussed and ‘would be a matter of considerable debate’ going forward.

Owen Meredith from the NMA said: “We are pleased that the Charter renewal process will look at the BBC’s impact on the commercial news sector, with a specific focus on local media. Ofcom has acknowledged that the BBC’s expansion into digital local news is impacting commercial providers, so decisive action is urgent.

“We look forward to engaging fully with the Charter renewal to ensure that the process results in a BBC which can continue to deliver value for the British public while complementing, not competing with, a thriving commercial news ecosystem, which includes ensuring any attempts to generate more commercial revenue do not have a detrimental impact on the wider market.”

Noting one idea being floated by Government is that advertising could help fund the BBC, Owen added: “The suggestion that the BBC could carry advertising online or across its platforms would be hugely damaging and distort the commercial marketplace. It should be ruled out.”