Outcry in the UK against the privatization of Channel 4

The idea had been in the air for a while on the Tories side and the letter fell: Boris Johnson's government wants to privatize Channel 4. The desire, according to Culture Minister Nadine Dorries, is, among other things, to make the channel "competitive against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon".

Only, as Charlie Parsons, founder of the production company Planet 24, reminds us, "Netflix feeds on Channel 4 and the BBC", and not the other way around.

Indeed, on the platform, there are many programs originally broadcast on the British network, such as

,

or

.

The particularity of Channel 4 is that it is not funded by the taxpayer (unlike the BBC), while being a public service channel.

It is advertising that allows it to invest in programs, often innovative and creative, produced by independent companies.

"(The channel) exists to provide a public service to Britons with really important programmes, like

or

, which Netflix or Amazon would never do", summarizes Dorothy Byrne, the channel's former information manager, at the BBC.

Therefore, why do without a flagship that does not cost money and risk the sustainability of sometimes confidential production companies?

Political decision

Well, in these innovative programs, a great freedom of tone is left.

Whether it's

up a rumor about a former Prime Minister to make an episode (

) or journalists from the JT, like Jon Snow who never hesitated to say what he thought of Boris Johnson , not everyone likes it.

In addition, the chain has, from the start, shown itself hostile to Brexit, detailing, in various reports, what a withdrawal from the European Union could lead to: higher prices on basic necessities, labor shortages work, problems with Northern Ireland (all situations that are true today).

A political decision, therefore, denounced, among others, by the director Asif Kapadia (

,

), who was able to be subsidized, at the beginning of his career by the chain.

“Boris Johnson and his Conservative government are selling C4 because they hate what C4 does.

The Tories attack democracy, culture, art and anyone who dares to call them to account like

(the JT).

They are out to destroy the country.

We must fight back,” he wrote on Twitter.

The sale of the chain must still be validated by parliament and the subject divides, even within Boris Johnson's own party - already somewhat weakened between his problems with evenings during confinement or his party's links with donors Russians, without forgetting the Brexit which does not work.

Former Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt (Tory) told Sky News that “Channel 4 offers competition to the BBC on public service programs which are not commercially viable – and it would be a shame to lose that. ".

A petition on Change.org was also launched and collected nearly 315,000 signatures.

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• Boris Johnson

• Prime Minister

• England

• Privatization

• Media