The BBC and the ‘Myth of Impartiality’

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?

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.

Strictly come Social Networking

According to Anthony Rose, the BBC’s controller of Vision and on-line, speaking at the launch of the Media Guardian’s Innovation awards, this weekend will see the addition of unspecified ‘social media’ applications to Strictly Come Dancing as part of a radical re-launch of all their on-line services. This radical re-launch is planned for March, and will be based on ‘what the next generation in social media will be’. Amongst the innovations will be the development of an open version of iPlayer which will allow third-party platforms to embed BBC content while it remains on the BBC site. This is seen as one element in BBC management’s attempts to prevent top-slicing the licence fee – by working in collaboration with commercial organisations they argue there is value going to the commercial sector – without the need for a funding cut to BBC resourcing.

There are also

Ben Bradshaw becomes bizarre

In a bizarre turn of phrase in his speech to the Labour conference, Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw told delegates that the BBC ‘must be more sensitive to views of public who pay for it’

Yet this is the same culture secretary who told Broadcast magazine last week that he was minded to abolish the BBC Trust – the body put in place only three years ago by Labour to do exactly this – monitor the BBC’s actions on behalf of the licence fee payer.

He also threatened to take this action before the terms of the present BBC Charter runs out. A sound bite to conference arguing for the people to have more say is very tempting for politicians. However, when it is linked to proposals that would prevent the people themselves having more say, then it is either muddled or dishonest. Of course perhaps Mr Bradshaw believes that it is the party in power who have the ability to interpret what the people want – and therefore the right to interfere from that position. Now that isn’t muddled thinking – it’s simply dangerous and undemocratic.

Labour may scrap BBC Trust before Charter Review

According to a report from Broadcast Magazine The row between the BBC Trust and the government has now intensified to the extent that  Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has suggested he could scrap the Trust before the next Charter Review.

Bradshaw had already raised the Trust’s hackles with his speech to the Royal Television Society’s biennial convention in Cambridge, in which he claimed the governing body’s dual role as ‘regulator and cheerleader’ was unsustainable.

The BBC Trust answered that it should not be judged on its performance until the next Charter Review, ‘many years down the line’, and BBC sources said the governing body was safe until then.

However, Bradshaw later told Broadcast that the Trust was not necessarily safeguarded until the 2017 review, and that it could be changed at the next licence fee settlement, in 2013, instead.

He said he had held talks with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who agreed that the BBC’s governance system should be changed, and indicated he would seek the BBC’s backing in scrapping the Trust before the Charter Review.

Bradshaw, who is a former BBC reporter, was reluctant to say whether the government would push the change through without BBC agreement.

His comments followed a heated exchange with BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons, in the Q&A session after Bradshaw’s speech, in which Lyons challenged the government for not talking more about licence fee payers and asking the public whether they would like the licence fee returned to them.

Lyons, who was visibly angered, said: ‘It is money which you raised for one purpose and now want to use for a different purpose. It’s about honest taxation.’

However, other leading industry figures welcomed Bradshaw’s statement. Former Endemol executive Peter Bazalgette said it was ‘the most considered and elegant speech from a Culture Secretary since Chris Smith’.”

This claim from Bradshaw comes hot on the heels of James Murdoch’s intemperate attack on the notion of Public Service Broadcasting, claiming that “The only reliable, durable, and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit ” and is in line with increasing moves by Labour and Offcom to allow top slicing of the licence fee – albeit starting with the un-used portion of the fee originally ring-fenced for help with the digital switchover. Some critics of this approach believe that it is essentially a back door method of undermining the BBC and preparing the way for increasing access to the British market of News International.

STV to opt in for increasing opt outs?

The importance of local news to the Scottish TV viewer was stressed in an article in this week’s Sunday Herald (27th September). Earlier attempts by the BBC to launch a local web news network had been rejected by the BBC Trust – due to complaints by the Press that this encroached on their area. Sceptics of the complaints by the Press have till now looked in vain for their offerings – although it certainly scuppered any chances of a decent service from the BBC. More recently in the Government’s Digital Britain report it was suggested that there should be 3 independently funded news consortia set up – one in each of the nations. Latest developments seem to suggest that a serious possibility has arisen for a joint proposal from STV DC Thompson, the Johson Press and the Herald and Times Group to bid for one of the pilot news consortia. Importantly this seems to include an increased element of local reporting through opt outs. Sceptics had suggested that for troubled STV their recent proposal for a new ‘Scottish Six’ was partly about saving money by pulling staff out of Aberdeen and focussing on a Glasgow led production – albeit with the increased opt outs promised. Scottish Television have not yet officially confirmed that it will be part of any bidding for one of the pilots, but given the channel’s troubles it looks increasingly likely. In the longer term whether it is the way to ensure a stable and plural news environment in Scotland is less certain.

BBC Alba As deidh bliadhna (BBC Alba one year on)

“Tha e doirbh a chreidsinn gu bheil BBC ALBA air a bhith air an eadhar airson bliadhna a-nis agus bu math le MG Alba, as leth na buidhne, taing a thoirt airson an taic a tha a h-uile duinne air a’ thoirt dhan sianal agus MG Alba mar bhuidhean”.

BBC ALBA has been on air for a year now – something that is hard to believe. The channel has enjoyed success with Scottish audiences, with the media and with Gaelic speakers despite only being available on satellite television and on the iPlayer, and we are hugely indebted to you for the part you have played in that
and for the support you have given.

These are the words from a recent press release from MG Alba – the main funder of the Gaelic Channel, who run it in partnership with the BBC Alba. Good news for the Channel this week was that the channel will now be shown live on the iPlayer. However one year in, there is still a huge hill for the channel to climb.
A recent article in the West Highland Free Press however raised a whole set of issues that the channel needs to overcome – many not of its own making -  its budgetary constraints of £14m per year, compared to the £90m of the Welsh Channel S4C, plus the continual frustration of not being available on the BBC’s Freeview platform – it being necessary to have SKY or Freesat to watch it. Currently only a third of viewers in Scotland have access to it, but 200,000 viewers watch it per week – well in advance of the 59 thousand fluent Gaelic speakers registered in the last Census. Surely a case of democratic deficit here, when Gaelic speakers pay the same taxes as non-Gaels and pay their BBC licence as well.

BBC Trust to review BBC TV services

The BBC Trust – the body set up to monitor the BBC on behalf of licence payers has announced a review of BBC One BBC Two, BBC Four and the Red Button. This is part of the Trust’s regular series of reviews and will be the largest and most significant service review held yet. Essentially the Trust is asking the public to tell them the extent to which these services meet audience expectations. A 12 week public consultation has now been launched which will end on December 18th.  The review will look at all content on the channels including news and nations and regions output, although the question of television production quotas including programme and network supply and the costs of on screen talent are out of scope as they have been reviewed separately in recent years. The on-air portrayal of the different communities within the UK is also outside the scope of this particular review as during the course of 2009/10 the Trust will be working with the four Audience Councils to examine questions of portrayal.

Despite these limitations the review comes at a time when the Scottish Government are arguing for a different type of Broadcasting Corporation in this country, and critical friends such as the Audience Council Scotland have argued for better Scottish coverage and portrayal. Meanwhile embittered critics such as James Murdoch, scion of the Murdoch media empire are hoping to set the agenda for a ‘nuclear option’ the total abolition of Britain’s Public Service Broadcaster claiming that “The only reliable, durable, and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit.” In an unprecedented rebuttal of the News Corporation spokesman, Mark Thompson the Director General of the BBC referred specifically to Murdoch’s recent MacTaggart lecture claiming he was out of touch with audience sentiment. Thompson quoted a recent Guardian ICM poll which found that  four out of five people said the UK should be proud of the BBC – “a much higher figure than when ICM asked the same question five years ago”. He also confirmed that the BBC would fight proposals to share the licence fee with rival broadcasters – a proposal which seems to have gained favour within the Labour Party of recent months although is bitterly opposed by representatives of the Scottish audience such as the Audience Council. Members of the Public and those who may be particularly effected by possible changes to the services in question (such as postgraduate journalists – Ed.) can download and contribute to the review here.

Scots Nats argue for Scottish Broadcasting Corporation

Claims that Scots were “still being short-changed” within the current British broadcasting system were made yesterday in the Scottish Parliament by SNP culture minister Michael Russell.Claiming that the UK government, had totally ignored the call of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission for a new independent Scottish channel, Mr Russell pointed out that this has been totally ignored in the much publicised Digital Britain report released last month.The minister was making a statement to MSPs on progress in broadcasting in the last 12 months since the publication of the SBC report.

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