Turning-point for the BBC? - the new DG

[JohnSkelton]

Coming down to our level ("Do they really enjoy it?" Who knows - if anyone asked 'them' we didn't hear their response).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWW93lTBP9Q

[Lateralthinking1]

Coming down to our level ("Do they really enjoy it?" Who knows - if anyone asked 'them' we didn't hear their response).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWW93lTBP9Q

A very good clip. Not perfect but good. The expert was right about the rocketing of car ownership, the need for flexible holidays and the importance of opening up new holiday destinations. Interesting that foreign travel wasn't mentioned and what on earth was that alien motorway on the Kent/East Sussex border? Far too early for the M23 and not in the right direction.

I've now had my say on the BBC's coverage of the flotilla and don't intend to say huge amounts more on that subject. I agree with you JS that the discussion runs the risk of being used by those who would like to see the wall-to-wall advertising of Coco Pops.

[DracoM]

But the sobering thing is that no-one had to manufacture this crisis of faith. The BBC did it all by themselves, at very considerable length.

And there were other brands available i.e. Sky and ITV for direct ongoing comparisons. In the not very distant past, the Beeb had the field of great state occasions to itself, and we tended to accept what we were given. But choice has made us more critically aware. Ironically, the competitors are judged by what the BBC USED to be like and found to be successful, while the Beeb itself compared against its own past has been found wanting.

[pilamenon]

Personally, I am no longer certain that the BBC can recover its lost prestige and produce programming of quality, whether it be radio or on TV. BBC4 seems to have completely abandoned the arts, and what potentially interesting programmes there are, are marred by inane narration, gimmicky camera shots etc. Radio 3, as our own threads bear witness, is a travesty of a once great radio station. The proliferation of alternative forms of broadcasting means that the BBC is fast becoming an irrelevance, but an expensive one nonetheless.

The BBC still makes very good programmes - last night's 'The Secret History of Our Streets' was a fine example of a documentary with none of the inane narration or gimmicky camera shots that you mention, throwing a fascinating spotlight on the changing situation and make-up of a London suburb.

And, as others have pointed out, despite everything, Radio 3 is still a fine station that would not exist in a post-BBC Britain. Of course, there are irritants, but the wholesale plunge downhill has not happened, if anything it has stabilised.

To Caliban: I stick by my view that the pageant was an intrinsically difficult event to cover for hours on end, but yes, more could have been done to explain the history and nature of the boats involved.

[Nick Armstrong]

To Caliban: I stick by my view that the pageant was an intrinsically difficult event to cover for hours on end, but yes, more could have been done to explain the history and nature of the boats involved.

Agreed! Not easy... but possible and potentially very rewarding.

[VodkaDilc]

The BBC still makes very good programmes - last night's 'The Secret History of Our Streets' was a fine example of a documentary with none of the inane narration or gimmicky camera shots that you mention, throwing a fascinating spotlight on the changing situation and make-up of a London suburb.

I've just watched this and agree that it's excellent. However I was struck by the insensitive use of subtitles. Every person interviewed who was from any sort of non-white/British background had their words subtitled, even those who were obviously well-educated and were completely comprehensible. Every white South Londoner was deemed to be understandable without subtitles (I have lived in South London, so have no problems with the accent, but many others might.)

In a multi-cultural society, isn't there a better way? Subtitle all or none, perhaps. I am surprised that the BBC allowed the programme to be broadcast like this.

[Mr Pee]

I wasn't aware that someone had died ?

Bread and circuses .......... albeit mothers pride and a rather crap juggler smelling of meths

The OP was referring to the coverage of Princess Diana's funeral, so yes, somebody had died.

I've not a clue what you're on about in the second part of your post.

[handsomefortune]

why did you think this might be 'a turning point' caliban?

[MrGongGong]

I've not a clue what you're on about in the second part of your post.

I guess you obviously are unaware of the phrase ...........

this might help

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

[Nick Armstrong]

why did you think this might be 'a turning point' caliban?

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?5510-Might-this-be-a-turning-point-for-the-BBC&p=170492#post170492

[handsomefortune]

Might this herald a reconsideration of the tendency towards patronising, infantilised 'drivel' that has spoiled so much of the BBC's output, including Radio 3?

and your other post about 'betraying our trust' (and the corp's trust) .... just part and parcel of the demolition exercise of the beeb, as far as i can see unfortunately. imo it doesn't signal 'a turning point' in any positive sense, for viewers, or listeners.


instead, it does make me wonder just what the beeb management requires of their employees, and what role the trust plays?

aren't employees allegedly non biased, and non political ...

yet the demolition exercise is implied to be 'stateist' or left leaning, by the likes of boris, and other beeb critics. as though gaffs are automatically left leaning, and any real triumphs 'naturally capitalist', or right leaning.

i don't think the alleged jubilee coverage had 'mistakes' exactly, it was all carefully choreographed. even the fact that it left plenty of room for gaffs, coverage was 'excessive', spanning four days. curalach's post, relating to a brief public show of dignity, appropriate to the occasion sufficing, is spot on imo. it seems distinctly odd, especially in an economic recession, not to consult a few history books, and employ a couple of experts? instead, the coverage alienated royalists, and historians respectively, as well as tv viewers hoping to be entertained.

potentially more like a death knell, than a 'turning point' unfortunately!

lastly, fancy airing the excuses of hideously unsympathetic mr damazer... just to put the icing on the cake - gr8!

[Serial_Apologist]

My own interpretation of Caliban's OP, fwiw, is that the "disease" of poor pre-planning of events and broadcasts, the mounting resort to Vox Populi - here as equally on R3's morning schedule - now seems to have infected throughout both the radio and TV networks, if Sunday's charade is to go by. What is so embarrassing, in the case of politicians interviewed, is how prepared and together in presenting their side of the story they always are. This morning's non-challenging interview of the PM by Evan Davis, complete with fumbles, bumbles (such as asking a leading question but appending it with a get out for Cameron to ignore the first part in his reply to) and nervous giggles was absolutely typical. It is this wholesale infestation of puerility that I would see as constituting the turning point,.

[handsomefortune]

poor pre-planning of events and broadcasts,

my point is that this is the beeb strategy chosen - nothing to to do with 'poor planning', or 'mistakes'.....unfortunately.

[Paul Sherratt]

Tim Davie was one of managers steering the bbc approach to the event.
Pepsi on the rocks, anyone ?

[Crowcatcher]

To reiterate: when DOES the DG step down?

You may be interested in a letter in the most recent BBC Pension Sceme's news letter ('Prospero')

"Back to the Front
In the light of the speculation on the replacement for Mark Thompson, surely we should be looking back as well as to the front. It does make one think, when looking at the current senior management, where are the Bill Cottons, Huw Weldons, Michael Grades, Hugh Greenes, and Paul Foxs, to name but a few, today? Will the new incumbent, who will take a significant pay cut over his predecessor Mark for a start, be worthy of the accolades of his predecessors for doing a good job and not for boosting his salary?

Of the present so-called team, Peter Salmon, Director BBC North, refuses to move to Salford and is apparently on the way out. Tim Davie, Director of Audio, was formerly flogging Pepsi-Cola, no broadcast experience. Caroline Thomson, Chief Operating Officer, has had no programme-making experience in the last 12 years. So, could it be `Come back Greg Dyke, all is forgiven'?

Another interesting snippet - the contract for Question Time is up for renewal. For the past 14 years it has been produced by Mentorn, but there is a strong challenge from Lion Television. This company is part of the A113Media group. Rumours are that they could shortly be bought by Shine, owned by Elisabeth Murdoch and ultimately owner by daddy's News Corporation. So the BBC's prime current affairs discussion programme could be run by the Dirty Digger or are we really in for a change?"


As a retired BBC engineer, I look back at the present BBC and feel ashamed that I ever worked for it. As an astute manager of mine said in the 1970s - "The trouble with the BBC is that it's been taken over by journalists" (the DG who was a broadcaster was Charles Curran) - of course, now, it's accountants, the archetypal 'men in grey suits'