The Future of the BBC

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What about radio? Nobody seems to mention that when they say 'iPlayer'.

Ah! Yes - back to the drawing board, then. (And MB made the suggestion on a radio programme!)

[french frank]

Ah! Yes - back to the drawing board, then. (And MB made the suggestion on a radio programme!)

Well, it may be that to make the scheme workable you'll need a TV licence to use Listen Again for radio too.

[Lat-Literal]

What if the subscription system is run by the BBC FOR the BBC? Just as the BBC is major part of Freeview, they could have a joint subscription management system.

This isn't what I had intended to post. I have had some trouble this PM with being continually logged off for no obvious reason even in mid type. Then when posting or editing it sometimes being told I was not authorised to post my own piece!!



That is the heart of this debate. We require "citizens" to fund BBC because we perceive it, and always have, as a "Public Service". It is the notion of that that is being challenged. The White Paper has concluded that that notion isn't yet broken - for the time being. Whittingdale, such a critic as Chair of the Select Committee, has now to fulfil the role of Minister which is quite a different thing. As I said above, the problem for any other form of funding the BBC is that a workable substitute had to be in place at the start of this new charter - despite all the noise no-one did anything about it in good time. Ergo anything but the Licence Fee is dead in the water - until next time or until some major game changer like revoking the spectrum happens and then a new scenario for the BBC opens up. Can we see a change in funding model during this new charter? Possibly. Who will be motivated to move it forward? Why would they? Is there enough public support for getting rid of the LF - any proponent would have to offer a more attractive method? There are loudish voices that do want to do that but I wonder what their demographic is?

Yours is a good post with a lot of thoughtful questions to consider. However, I don't think "we" - the public - do see it as a capital "Public Service" although I do in the historical context. "We" - many people - may feel it is vaguely but we're also vulnerable in our lack of clarity in that feeling. Most folk are clear about the public service role of the NHS because that is the dominant narrative. In contrast, headline messages about the role of the BBC in national identity have been permitted to be diluted in the haze of media proliferation and blunt market-driven political objectives. That needs to change and I think it will do as the tide turns from overtly ideological economics back to pragmatism.

"This is London - and the regions - calling". Calling to all British citizens and to populations across the world. The voice of permanency and continuity and indeed security at a time of world war. A conservative and yet liberal neutral voice during peace time, speaking equally to all people in its symbolism of freedom. A freedom that may be politically managed to an extent rather than being an economically competitive free-for-all because it is broader and deeper in its value. One that reaches beyond iron curtains. One that connects across all the global market's fragments. One that seeks in being above all divisions of politics, economics, ethnicity and religion to provide an accessible sense of common standard. I have no issue with it needing to be accountable as an extension of our health, education and security systems and more. I don't have an issue with an element of its funding being based on trivializing its content so that it also becomes product. But what I know is that in the decades since WW2 there has increasingly been a wrong, cosy assumption that its fundamental role will not be needed in the future. Much the same could be said about the short-term attitudes towards scaling down our armed forces.

What I know too is that when Britain "punches above its weight", it does so best with a velvet glove. Our people are not elected as Chairmen of UN Committees on the basis of some wonderful British aptitude for money making or commerce or our technical proficiency and academic prowess but rather on historical notions of British solidity. It's about fairness and stoicism and being practical and, yes, even entertainment which in an ever-changing world is principally identified with our ongoing system's proven infrastructure.

As for ground level, well, the man driving the taxi - 42, a Tamil, a fan of David Cameron and an LBC listener - took his mind and ours away from the nose to tail traffic in Tooting. We were back in the 1980s in his rural Sri Lankan home with acres of land between his house and the next one. No light. No electricity. No signal at all to Colombo. But his father had a wireless set with an aerial requiring constant attention. For half an hour every evening they had the World Service. That was their connection with the world. And those connections were not simply with Britain but in identification with the similarly alienated Russians, Chinese, Africans etc. Thirty years on, the internet is no substitute. Its openness is an invitation to learning how to dispute as much as anything else. It is only cohesively factual if one has the wherewithal and media sophistication to know where the facts are likely to be. There may well be radio and street light across Sri Lanka now but that isn't the case either literally or metaphorically in North Korea and many other places. New Londoners can adapt to one-sided opinions in various media outlets and that's all very well but where opinions aren't permitted liberty is found in something more fundamental.

[greenilex]

[teamsaint]

So, er, Neil, Morgan, or Rudd ?

Interesting views in the media about BJ valuing the BBC's " soft power" outside of these shores, which I guess may yet save the BBC in something like its current form, though whether that is a good thing is another story I guess.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Likely to be Morgan, given that her principles can be tailored to those that suit whoever has the power to appoint her (to the Lords, to remunerative positions on government boards, quangos and no doubt boards of favoured service providers / contractors who feed at the lucrative government outsourcing trough) .
Neill has more than two brain cells to rub together and is prepared to use them so unlikely. The Times report there is emnity between Cummings and Rudd so it would show unusual independence of mind (well, let's call it instinct) for Johnson to appoint her.

[LMcD]

Nothing more effectively destroys the public's confidence in an institution like the BBC, or that institution's confidence in itself, than a stout defence or justification of an action or position followed very shortly afterwards by a complete volte-face in the form of a public admission of fault ('Humble? - sure, we can do humble - look!').

[cloughie]

I appear to have missed something here - a sudden addition to a 4 yr old thread - maybe I need to keep up but what this all about?

[teamsaint]

I appear to have missed something here - a sudden addition to a 4 yr old thread - maybe I need to keep up but what this all about?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/andrew-neil-and-nicky-morgan-in-frame-for-bbc-chairman-6gtttw89b

[antongould]

I appear to have missed something here - a sudden addition to a 4 yr old thread - maybe I need to keep up but what this all about?

Don’t worry cloughers the Morgan Lady will save Radio Cornwall and make it play your music ...... Radio Newcastle will be given to Greggs ....

[cloughie]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a...rman-6gtttw89b

Thanks ts. Yes it’ll be the Vicar of Bray Morgan - Neil too powerful and Amber too sensible and not far right enough.

[cloughie]

Don’t worry cloughers the Morgan Lady will save Radio Cornwall and make it play your music ...... Radio Newcastle will be given to Greggs ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_le_Fay

Bound for Tintagel no doubt.

[LMcD]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_le_Fay

Bound for Tintagel no doubt.

I hope that doesn't mean we'll be subjected to back-to-back Bax.

[cloughie]

I hope that doesn't mean we'll be subjected to back-to-back Bax.

Nah, Morgan probably never heard of him.

[Old Grumpy]

Radio Newcastle will be given to Greggs ....

Good idea...


...keep those vegans happy, at least!

OG