Culture department says summary of Radio Times readers’ responses on future of BBC have been taken into account

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The government has rebuffed a request to reopen its consultation into the future of the BBC after the Radio Times claimed 6,000 of its readers’ responses had been ignored.

The magazine said the government had never asked for the password to open an encrypted memory stick on which the responses were sent.

The culture secretary, John Whittingdale, said earlier this month that “every response we received matters. Every response we received has been read”, but the Radio Times said it had “serious concerns” that the “important voice” of its readers on the future of the BBC had been ignored.

Radio Times editor Ben Preston, writing under the headline “A broken promise”, in the new issue of the Radio Times published on Tuesday, said: “Is this shameful mess the result of a conspiracy or a cock-up? Or both?”

Public supports BBC and its independence from government Read more

Preston said: “We have serious concerns about the government’s failure to consider the responses of our readers to the consultation on the review of the BBC’s royal charter.

“Radio Times readers have an important voice on issues which affect the BBC, and have been excluded without justification from a process which initially welcomed them.

“We have a duty to our readers, and have asked the government to reopen the consultation as a matter of urgency to make good on its promise that it would listen to everyone’s views.”

The government published the results of its public consultation on 1 March, including more than 192,000 responses, many of which gave strong support to the corporation.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said a summary of Radio Times readers’ responses, submitted at the same time as the encrypted electronic data, had been taken into account in the consultation process. Another 3,000 Radio Times readers responded by post, and these were also forwarded to the government.

The TV listings bible is the third-biggest-selling magazine in the UK.

It said the government’s summary of consultation responses had noted other feedback it had received, including the Radio Times survey that asked a different (but broadly similar) set of questions to the government’s formal consultation.

A DCMS spokesman said: “Government is committed to a thorough and open BBC charter review process, welcoming everyone’s views. All responses to our formal consultation will feed into the process.

“We also received other views including results from the Radio Times survey, which asked different questions. We will also take account of these as part of the charter review.”

The process has already proved controversial in some quarters, with campaign group 38 Degrees claiming 177,000 of its members had written in to the consultation.

Preston said he had also notified the culture, media and sport select committee, which Whittingdale used to chair, of its concerns.