Dumb down at your peril, BBC warned

BBC governors have been warned that they will be signing their own political death warrants if they sit by and allow flagship news programmes to "dumb down" in the search for bigger audiences.

The warning comes after a series of skirmishes between the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, and the BBC Director-General, Greg Dyke, who has been grappling with the problem that viewers and listeners under the age of 30 appear to be bored by conventional political coverage.

Senior figures in the Government complain that the governors have failed to play any effective role in making sure that the BBC does not lose sight of its public service obligations in the quest for a younger audience.

The board of governors is expected to have its powers curtailed, for the first time in BBC history, in a Communications Bill scheduled to go through Parliament in the next few months.

Ministers have so far resisted political pressure to scrap the governors outright, but are privately hinting there may be no point in saving them if they cannot protect broadcasting standards.

The corporation was criticised last week for spending £10m to screen the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and for reportedly spending millions on a Christmas show featuring the singer Robbie Williams – but the focus of most politicians' anxieties is the impending appointment of a new editor for Radio 4's Today, which has the highest audience of any current affairs programme.

The process of appointing a new editor for Today will begin in the next few days. There are fears that the new editor may come under pressure to reach younger listeners and find ways to keep Today's vast audience from switching off when the programme ends at 9am.

A highly placed government source said: "When the Communications Bill is likely to be in the Queen's Speech and to come before Parliament, the debate in Parliament will focus on the rigour and vigour of the governors in standing up for public service broadcasting.

"The idea that the governors are simply passive spectators in the future and form of the Today programme is a denial of the importance of their role and an abrogation of their function."

Politicians fear that Mr Dyke's drive to reduce the average age of BBC audiences could produce more shocks like the decision to scrap BBC1's Sunday programme, On the Record. Although its audience was small by television standards, MPs appreciated its news packages and in-depth interviews.

Mr Dyke and Mrs Jowell clashed over the new BBC3 channel, aimed at a younger audience. She warned that the Government would not accept a continual round of "game shows and imported rubbish", and set tougher than expected conditions about quality programmes and programmes made in the UK.

Those close to Mrs Jowell say that she agrees with the Director-General that the BBC has to pull in a younger audience, but argues that it can be done through programmes that deal in depth with issues such as human rights, animal welfare and the environment without concentrating exclusively on "loud" programmes that "oversimplify complex issues".

The BBC will advertise internally and externally in the next few days for a replacement for Rod Liddle, the long- serving Today editor forced to resign after making contemptuous comments in a newspaper article about the Countryside Alliance, breaching BBC impartiality rules.

Some BBC governors – though not all – are hinting that they will intervene if they suspect the appointment is to be used to alter the nature of the Today programme.

One well-placed source, close to the governors, said: "This will be a test case for not going downmarket. If that is the way things are going, there will be trouble."