IAMCR, the preeminent body of international communications scholars, has submitted evidence to the House of Lords Inquiry into BBC Charter Renewal. This follows the organisation’s public statement in September which expressed concern about the impact of UK government cuts on the future of the BBC.
Describing the BBC as “a benchmark for excellence beyond the United Kingdom”, IAMCR call on the UK government to recognise that the BBC is “a persuasive ambassador for the United Kingdom; it is a ‘brand’ of considerable value on the world stage.” Armando Iannucci and a host of other prominent figures have put forward a similar case supporting the corporation against cuts.
In opposing the free-market ideology that would dismantle public service broadcasting, commentators are frequently forced to idealise the BBC and overlook its significant shortcoming. Examples of these shortcomings include suppressing an investigation into sexual abuse by the corporation’s former star Jimmy Savile, engaging a legal fight against freedom of information to prevent the publication of a report into its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, forming a "collusive relationship" with South Yorkshire Police, and paying out large severance payoffs to former executives.
The steady stream of scandals seriously undermines the idea that the BBC is a benchmark of public service broadcasting. Moreover, as Dan Hind notes, the culture of the BBC is already highly corporate. He writes, “the BBC has not been under sustained pressure to become more democratic, or to enable more effective political participation in the general population. It has been urged to adopt best practice from the private sector, and to promote the values of an ‘enterprise culture’. Its governance, and indeed its output, reflects that pressure.”
The real scandal of the UK government’s approach to the BBC is not that it would “diminish” an institution defined as “precious” by its stars. Rather, it is that the question of reform is largely conducted to serve commercial rather than public interests.
Responding to the government green paper on the BBC's future, over 40 British communications academics signed an open letter to the culture secretary noting: “it is clear that the Green Paper’s real intent is not to secure a future for a well-funded, genuinely independent and innovative public service provider, but to shrink the BBC in the interests of its commercial competitors.”
The Future of Public Media: Questions about the future of the BBC should not be separated from questions about the future of public media more generally. Yet, right wing attacks on the BBC as well as impassioned efforts to defend it obscure alternative visions for public service media in the digital age.
In The Return of the Public, Dan Hind argues for the establishment of citizen-led editorial commissioning. Others, as in Ireland, call for greater support for the public service content of local media providers and new media platforms. While the public service remit of the BBC requires the corporation to reflect the diversity of Britain and its regions, this can also be achieved by supporting a greater diversity of public and citizen-driven media.
The democratisation of public media has never been as technologically feasible as it is now. It is the ‘third way’ between the centralised paternalism of the BBC and the aggressive commercialism of Murdoch’s News International.
