John Simpson attacks BBC's 'noisy enemies' – including culture secretary

John Simpson, the veteran BBC world affairs editor, has warned about the political pressure the corporation is under and raised questions about negotiating the forthcoming licence fee settlement with the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who he called "a man who wants to turn us into Birmingham, Alabama". In a MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival session called Build Your Own BBC, Simpson warned of the "noisy enemies" of the corporation as it prepares to enter the next round of licence fee settlement talks with the coalition government next year. "We'll be negotiating with a man who wants to turn us into Birmingham, Alabama," he said. "We'll all look forward to that. The licence fee depends on the degree of pressure the government of the day feels it can press on the BBC. "What we have is a load of very noisy enemies. We have a secretary of state that actually thinks Birmingham, Alabama, has a better broadcasting structure than the BBC has." He was referring to a speech Hunt made in June promoting his plan to develop a new generation of local TV stations . "The real lack of provision is not regional news but local news. It's probably the biggest single failing of public service television in this country. Birmingham, Alabama, has eight local TV stations. Birmingham in the UK has none – despite the fact it has a population four times the size," he said. Simpson went on: "If you cut the licence fee you start to damage the BBC, you increase political control over the BBC. Who gets to cut it? The government of the day. We have enemies but they are on the extremes." He also said the BBC has "got out of the habit of doing documentaries". "It's absolutely appalling. We don't have a constant diet of documentaries, we can do it and we've got the talent to do it." Simpson also said that cuts in news and current affairs have been "absolutely savage" and that "we're losing foreign correspondents in an outfit which sells the BBC around the world". He also compared the staff who work on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News to "the miners in Chile", joking: "They are given anti-depressants now and then. But these people work like dogs for very little money." On the issue of pay for star presenters and top executives, Simpson said: "People want the BBC to be a kind of monastic outfit, they don't want to see people have great bricks of money. I came to work for the BBC not for the money but for the thing itself." However, the same session David Elstein, DCD Media chairman, argued that alternatives to a existing licence fee regime should be explored. "The licence fee is the cocaine supply of the BBC, they are fixed and can't get off it," he said. Ash Atalla, the award-winning producer and Rough Cut TV managing director, warned of the dangers of "sleepwalking" into the licence fee being cut. "It's like going to Egypt and discovering the pyramids have been removed because Rupert Murdoch thought they were too old," Atalla said. During the session the audience was asked to vote which parts of the BBC to save and cut. The chose to cut star salaries and keep BBC3, orchestras, online news, sports rights and Radio 2. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".