- BBC axes Football Focus after 52 years, sparking fears for local sports coverage.
- Shifting priorities threaten future of regional reporting for clubs like Norwich City.
- Loss of traditional magazine shows signals move away from community focus.
On the surface, the cancellation of Football Focus doesn’t have that much to do with Norwich City.
It’s just one less football magazine show, right?
Except the loss of Football Focus potentially has massive potential ramifications for local sports coverage and here’s why.
The story
There were a few reasons given why Football Focus was cancelled. Some cited the typical idea that it had gone ‘woke’, which roughly translates to old heads like Mark Lawrenson not getting work by sighing and seeming bored with the world around them.
Another theory offered was almost the complete opposite- the program didn’t fit with modern sensibilities, with the show often coming on as lunch time kick-offs started and therefore ensuring a chunk of the audience was somewhere else.
Local matter
Why then does the loss of Football Focus give bad tidings for fans of Norwich City and other local teams?
With reports that the BBC will be making massive cuts as they look to maintain the remaining non-digital households, it is not being too tin foil hat to suggest that local news, sport and other programs are more dispensable than something broadcast on the main channel.
Why it matters
Increasingly having something designed for a collective audience has become harder as everything becomes more fragmented.
Why provide coverage from The Walks if the expense could be spent on a game show format that could be potentially lucrative?
Why hire commentators and pundits when you could have the information on your phone?
The answer is that at the heart of the BBC is not just about pandering to the majority. There is the danger that in order to maintain its survival all that’s left is a small selection of crowd-pleasers.
Hang on…
Some might say, “But didn’t you complain about them going to The Walks in an article a couple of weeks ago?”
And, yes, my invented straw person, you are correct.
I don’t want to go to King’s Lynn while listening to a Norwich City game. But I do want the fans who want that coverage to have access to it.
We have seen in recent times commercial radio stations lose their local identities.
There is a very real chance that the BBC could follow suit, and while 52 years is a great run for a program like Football Focus, I fear what this could signify in years to come.
