BBC licence fee: Is the government at war with the media? – BBC Newsnight

After the culture secretary suggests the licence fee could be scrapped and journalists walk out over preferential access, is Boris Johnson targeting traditional media? Subscribe to our channel here: https://goo.gl/31Q53F

How does a Government communicate with voters? It used to involve putting MPs on the evening bulletins, giving interviews to the newspapers.

But we're in a different, evolving digital world, in which prime ministers and presidents can talk directly to the public, and frame their messages without the need to answer tough questions.

During the election campaign the prime minister was accused of dodging media appearances and his government has now been accused of boycotting major media programmes.

Has the age of the media as gatekeepers to the public finished – or are ministers simply keen to avoid scrutiny? And has the government bitten off more than it can chew?

Nick Watt reports, and Katie Razzall is joined in the studio by Ed Miliband’s former director of communications Tom Baldwin, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee and Craig Oliver, former journalist and Downing Street Director of Communications under David Cameron.

Newsnight is the BBC's flagship news and current affairs TV programme - with analysis, debate, exclusives, and robust interviews.

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