20. Debate on the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Report: 'Exploring the devolution of broadcasting: How can Wales get the media it needs?

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:58 pm on 24 March 2021.

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Photo of Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas Independent 5:58, 24 March 2021

(Translated)

Thank you very much, Ann, and thank you for the privilege of having you presiding on the final day in this place. Our friendship and our relationship in north Wales, and a lot of political collaboration that we won't mention today, goes back over decades. You have been a shining star among us, and particularly as you have presided over us. 

I welcome the committee's report and I'm very grateful for it. We have seen the importance of public service broadcasting during this crisis and we are still working through the crisis, of course. And we have seen how important it is to have devolved and local media that can report on public health crises to the population affected by those. It's important that we don't forget that contribution and that we build upon what has happened this time. 

I'm also grateful to the media for their effective partnership with the Welsh Government on the creative industries, because that is crucial to us—that the creative work undertaken can happen in close relationship with the media. And that's what concerns me slightly about this motion and on the talk of broadcasting. I've ceased using the word 'broadcasting'. I haven't done so for years, because of the late great Euryn Ogwen, who taught me many things. He was the first to teach me the importance of the word 'digital'. I didn't know what it meant until Euryn gave me a brief lecture. And since that point, I have sought to look at all sorts of cultural signals across various platforms and to see them as digital forms, which is a new culture for us all to be a part of. So, I don't think there is any meaning in talking about the devolution of broadcasting, but we can talk about ensuring that the whole digital and communications environment can provide a space for Wales. And that is now easier, of course, in the digital context, as the old major state broadcasters—although we have international broadcasters that are worse, perhaps, than the state broadcasters—can't always reach people digitally on all occasions.

Now, we have done many things during this time to seek to ensure that there is a stronger voice for Wales at the UK level. We have a memorandum of understanding with Ofcom and as regards Welsh appointments. But the most important thing that's happened, of course, is the revolutionary announcement made by the BBC last week on the six-year plan to redraw the BBC as a truly devolved institution that reflects the end of the United Kingdom as we know it—that's what is happening, and the BBC is willing to lead the way in that. This public commitment is one that should be welcomed. Therefore, I look forward to seeing more and more devolution of broadcasting and digital and for the next Welsh Government to contribute even more than we have succeeded in doing in recent years in influencing on behalf of the people of Wales in terms of the media that they see and view. Thank you.