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The BBC WAC Campaign submission

9th March 2026

John Wyver writes: Regulars here will know that I am one of those involved with the continuing discussion over recent policy changes about access to the BBC Written Archives Centre. The campaign to have these changes reversed has today made a formal submission to the open consultation by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport headed Britain’s Story: The Next Chapter – the BBC Royal Charter Review, Green Paper and public consultation.

The campaign submission is a substantial document detailing the concerns of the 600 signatories to our open letter and raising key issues relating to questions of trust and transparency on the part of the BBC. Do please take a look at the full submission, which can be viewed and downloaded here, while below I reproduce the Introduction which also acts as an executive summary.

1. The BBC WAC Campaign – representing six-hundred signatories to an open letter published in August 20252 – seeks to protect independent access to the BBC Written Archives Centre in Caversham (hereafter WAC). The campaign is led by independent researcher Ian Greaves, historian Dr Kate Murphy, and programme-maker and television historian Professor John Wyver. 

2. In early 2025 the Corporation altered the rules of access to WAC, which has served historians, academics, independent researchers and members of the public for over half a century. These changes, which reduce access in fundamental ways, were made without any meaningful consultation and have remained in place despite constructive counterproposals from the research community. They are severely detrimental to education and research and are in conflict with the BBC’s public interest remit. 

3. The specific WAC service is not highlighted in the government’s Charter consultation document, so the online questions form is not applicable and the 200-word open comment boxes are too limited. However, we believe that our views are highly relevant to the core principles set out in this Charter Review and the BBC’s existing Mission and Public Purposes, as well as section 69 of the current Framework Agreement. 

4. We are concerned that recent changes of policy at WAC will be overlooked in the Charter Review process and firmly believe that lessons must be learned over their poor handling. 

5. In this submission we set out our argument that, in line with the consultation’s themes, the BBC should prioritise three core values in relation to WAC: 

• Trust. Overcome a risk-averse culture by allowing the return of “on request” research access, to help close down perceptions that the BBC is secretive and defensive. 
• Transparency. The creation of a working group, consisting of representatives from BBC and non-BBC archives, the public and researchers, to ensure that decision-making around changes is transparent, undertaken with consultation and after proper feedback. 
• The telling of stories. Meet the requirements of Public Purpose 2 by ensuring access to archives as a tool for learning, including serious independent research, and aid practitioners to challenge misinformation and disinformation. 

6. The appendices of this document provide: key examples of campaign coverage in the national press and media (Appendix 1); our complete open letter (2); a proposal for a working group (3); and a letter to the BBC Board of Governors (4). 

7. A copy of this submission will be circulated to the BBC Chair, its Director General, all members of the Board of Governors, the Operations Committee and the senior managers responsible for changes at WAC, as well as the Secretary of State, all members of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee, and Ofcom. It will also be published online.