Setting the standards at the Beeb

BBC Trust

The public are being asked to set the standards within the BBC on issues such as impartiality, how war, religion and politics are covered, and on matters that might cause harm and offence to listeners. These and other editorial guidelines have been put out to public consultation for the first time – normally they are decided behind closed doors every five years.

The independence of the BBC is guaranteed in its Royal Charter, which also sets out the five Public Purposes of the BBC. These are:

• sustaining citizenship and civil society;
• promoting education and learning;
• stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;
• representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities;
• bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK;

In carrying out the above, the BBC is also expected to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services as well as taking a leading role in the switchover to digital television.

The BBC’s Editorial Values and Editorial Guidelines stem from this overall approach, and they apply to all BBC content whether it is made by the BBC itself or by an independent company working for it.

The BBC has asked that comments and ideas are submitted to them by 24th December 2009. The draft editorial guidelines can be found here, and details of how to contribute can be found here.

It would be a good initiative if students on the MAMJ course could give the BBC the benefits of their insights by that time – particularly with regard to the ethical issues that are raised in broadcasting.

The BBC and the ‘Myth of Impartiality’

BBC - really impartial?

The whole debate between ‘an independent BBC’ and the encroachments of a commercially based threat from the likes of Murdoch, is a false one according to a report on Friday’s independent radical media site MediaLens.

Basing themselves on a similar approach to Chomsky and Hermann in their work on manufacturing consent, they argue that while constituted in a different manner to the commercial media, the BBC continues to adopt a pro establishment view and is essentially regulated by a Trust who represent sectors of the British establishment, unlikely to ‘rock the boat’ in any politically meaningful way.

To quote the article at some length (the article is worth reading and can be found here):

“The Trust consists of twelve safe pairs of hands with extensive backgrounds in large corporate media organisations, advertising, banking, finance and industry. We are to believe that these individuals are independent of the government that appointed them, and of the elite corporate and other vested interests in which they are deeply embedded. We are to believe that they will uphold fair and balanced reporting which displays not a hint of bias towards state ideology or economic orthodoxy in a world of rampant corporate power.”

They argue that modern journalism acts to “narrow the range of thought”, thus serving the powerful interests that control the mass media. They do concede that it is not ‘Big Brother’ but argue it is certainly a form of Orwellian “Newspeak”.

Heady stuff. But it’s an argument that needs had. And which is rarely seen in the Media.

Now I wonder why that is?

BBC – safer under the Conservatives?

Jeremy Hunt - Shadow Culture Secretary

The BBC appear to be safer under the Conservatives than under Labour – or at least that seems to be the impression which Jeremy Hunt, Tory culture secretary, wished to give in a recent interview in the Guardian.

Interestingly he rejects the recent Murdoch-owned Sunday Times call for the BBC news website to be cut back although argues that the BBC should be careful about expanding its website out of areas that are strictly news.

He also strikes a populist note, pointing out that 47 BBC executives earn the same as, or more than, the prime minister’s £197,689 salary, and that this area would be under scrutiny following a change of Government.

Stressing that the BBC’s independence is sacrosanct, Hunt does not however argue where cuts should take place.

The previous day in a letter to the Guardian Labour Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw had argued that his attack on the BBC the previous week had been misunderstood.

The Guardian editorial had claimed Bradshaw, had signally failed to give the BBC the kind of political support it deserved.

Clearly Jeremy Hunt is trying to play down the links between Murdoch and the Conservative Party in the run up to the election. His public approach is a nuanced one, although the sincerity of his claims must be under doubt given the dreadful track record held by the Conservatives in their previous dealings with the media when in office.

His position has been strengthened somewhat by the recent intemperate attacks on the BBC Trust and the BBC by Labour’s culture secretary Ben Bradshaw.

However it will be interesting to see how Media is dealt with at the Conservative Party conference next week.

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