A Future For the BBC?

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Originally posted by BigH47:
The reasoned bit being that ALL BBC O/P is shit?

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You need your bumps felt IMO.

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Originally posted by Steve S1:
The BBC is a fantastic organisation [...] It continues to be responsible for some of the best programming available on TV, Radio and on-line.

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Originally posted by PAAS:
Fredrik,

As a fellow classical music enthusiast, how could you possibly advocate scrapping R3? If there is a "more than adequate commercial counterpart" I've yet to hear it. Surely you can't be referring to Classic FM? How can you possibly take seriously a classical music station that has Simon Bates as a presenter? "Today's 'Our Tune' is the first 3 minutes of a bit of Ravel" anybody???? "Tonights 'concert' is where we play a complete recording of Beethoven's 9th, rather than just the last 15 minutes like we usually give you". Thank God they got rid of Henry Kelly. If there were no R3, there would be no Proms, one of the greatest annual festivals of music on the planet. Where's the commercial equivalent of R4's Today program or the numerous quality comedy programs that have broken on R4 before moving on to TV for greater fame and fortune? Where's the commercial equivalent of "Just a minute" or "I'm sorry I haven't a clue"? You've been drinking too much Wyborova!!!

The job of the BBC is to provide programs for people with a bit of intelligence to listen to or watch, so that we don't have to put up with the moronic drivel that the likes of ITV provide . Of course there is some (rare) quality programming on some of the commercial stations, but to reduce the BBC to a news provider would be a huge loss to the social fabric of this country.

Best wishes! Paul.

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Originally posted by Earwicker:
I think I could live quite happily without TV or radio now. The BBC's TV news programmes are now so dumbed down its very irritating to watch them. I swear to God one evening George Alagiah is going to say, "today, let's look through the round window" as he smiles at us in that ridiculous manner nursery school teachers use for babies.

Radio 3 used to be okay, now that's mostly shit too.

Most if not all the content of the BBC's website is bettered elsewhere.

I hate Easterners and all that crap, and I'm not remotely interested in what Mrs Mangles chickens are up to on Corronation Farm.

I am grateful for my hi-fi!!

EW

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Originally posted by Kevin-W:

[Point One] Let's leave aside for now the very serious problem of phone-in fixing - which is sadly, it seems, endemic to television (and not confined to the BBC, although we all expect Auntie to behave better than anyone else) - and the issue of whether or not the Beeb is a publicly funded broadcaster.

[Point Two] ... you miss the point. The BBC is more than just a broadcaster of TV and radio fluff. It is the most important cultural institution in this country, and has been since the War.

[Point Three] It has the richest sound (and film) archive in the World, a priceless repository of the history of our nation, and those of many other countries. It has long recorded oral histories up and down the land, giving us a record of communities and ways of life that are disappearing or have disappeared. It continues to do this. It supports minority music and is one of the country's biggest funders of (and cherleeders for and supporters of) the arts. The Proms, the planet's most important classical music festival, survives and prospers thanks to Auntie's largesse. It looks ater many orchestras and non-mainstream musicians, who would otherwise not be here.

[Point Four] If you want to just focus on the telly, try this: in recent months Auntie has broadcast some superlative stuff - The Thick of It; How We Built Britain; Rome; Life On Mars; Gavin & Stacey; The Tower; Soul Britannia; Andrew Marr's A History of Modern Britain; the Apprentice; Building Britain. And on it goes. And don't get me started on BBC4's output, or Radio 4, or the documentaries on Radio 2, or the World Service...

[Point Five] Finally, the BBC is, on the whole, a fantastic advert of our country, admired around the world (particularly in places where freedom of speech is limited). The BBC is profoundly linked in with us as a people, and the way we are seen by the rest of the world. We're lucky we have it, and we should be proud of it.

[Point Six] If some of you want to whinge about the BBC for the sake of a few quid, then you're entitled to do so, but you risk making yourself look foolish and small minded. Plus, of course, you don't HAVE to buy a TV - and you can listen to Auntie's superb radio output for free, or access its excellent websites at no cost.

You'd all miss Auntie if she weren't there, whether you have a TV or not. Think on!

K

PS I don't work for the Beeb, nor do I have any links with it other than a couple of people I knw work for it; and that I pay my licence.

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Originally posted by Kevin-W:
Wicker, I'm afraid to say that your ill-thought out comments say far more about you and your prejudices than they do about the BBC (unless you're doing some sort of blimpish wind-up). You're particularly exposed by your use of that dread and overused phrase "dumbed down"; those who blather on about "dumbing down" are usually too lazy (or dumb) to string together a reasoned argument. What does it actually mean?

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It has the richest sound (and film) archive in the World, a priceless repository of the history of our nation, and those of many other countries.

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Originally posted by Earwicker:


You will find that they aim for the lowest common intellectual denominator and - how can I put this delicately? - are rather keen to portray British society on a particular way. ITV and C4 are pretty shite too I'll grant you, but the BBC is worse and the other two are free.

Sounds damning to me.

EW

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Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:

Dear Kevin,

Thanks for you post. I hope you will forgive a detailed answer to most of the points you make. As I stated at the very start I am a tremendous advocate of the BBC, and what I hope might come from this is the possibility of finding a way to avoid the kind of scandals that have arisen recently, and finding a more reasonable way to finance the BBC, which has a historical significance and was justifiable at a time when there were three or four main TV channels - two of which were BBC, and the BBC was the main radio sender in UK.

First point. I do not think we can simply ignore the problems currently surrounding the BBC in its popular programming. If such problems were not apparent then I would tend to say, "If it is not broken don't try to fix it." This is not the case, and the problems need addressing. We have every reason to expect better of the BBC considering its uniquely privileged funding arrangements.

Point Two. The position of the BBC in UK is unique, but there is nothing the BBC does in its non-broadcasting activities and even some of its actual broadcasting that is not capable of being done by other equally significant and fine organisations. The National Sound Archive and the British Library spring to mind as the potential custodians of the BBC Sound Archive if this were thought to be the best way forward. In the matter of being a large Artistic Patron, I can see no reason at all why this role should carry on. If the Proms series is such a significant phenomenon, and I have never shared the view that it is in the modern world, then it will survive without the BBC. Concert giving may be thought to be an activity that requires continuous support to survive. My view is that if it requires a Tax on television ownership it should be funded from elsewhere. I am not convinced that concert giving needs to survive on the scale it does in UK in any case, and certainly not under the auspicices of the BBC. There already exists an orchestral advisory board which advises on Arts Council funding of the non-BBC orchestras. Either the BBC orchestras could fall under its remit or cease.

The BBC has to be much more scrupulous than its commercial rivals because of its uniquely privileged funding. If it stoops to the level of some of its competitors then the question must arise, of just what the BBC is for, and why should it be so protected from the commercial realities faced by its rivals.

Third Point. There is no reason why the work of retaining and adding to the Social record of the UK way of life would not be more usefully handled by an ongoing academic work between the Universities and the British Library and National Sound Archive. Nothing would be lost in this, and the resulting work would certainly lend vitality to University Sociology departments, add diversity and vitality to the work and archive itself, and be nearer to the people who will eventually research the work or previous work. Though the BBC has started this work, almost fortuitously in the beginning, it does not seem the organisation best placed to continue with the work in the future to me.

Fifth Point. I think that the view o the BBC held in foreign lands is often the result of the very straight News delivered by the World Service, often going back to the foreign language broadcasting initiated by the BBC after the outbreak of the 1939-45 War, and continuing through the Communist era in Eastern Europe. The BBC is not equally well regarded everywhere in the world...

The World Service would be exactly the model for my vision for what the BBC would continue to do if the remit took away the requirement to "entertain" on anything like the scale it seems compelled to do nowadays. As for the ongoing success of such programmes of "Dr Who," I think it is well to remember that this first appeared when the BBC had just one TV channel that broadcast relatively short hours. There would be room for a few hours of truly fine broadcasting a week, as well as a children's hour, on the Parliament channel, which would hardly need to operate every hour of the day on Politics.

I would completely ban soap operas, game shows and any approach towards reality TV shows. There would be a much reduced quantity of high quality broadcasting in between the serious issue of balanced and impartial Parliamentary broadcasting, and this would be rigorously inspected by a body that was more independent of the BBC than either the governors [of old] or the trustees of today. They are not seemingly up to the job. There is far too much niche broadcasting from the BBC with tiny little audiences. The issue of classic comedy and drama would be best dealt with via DVD and download issuing, and this would be better handled by a separate organisation, and with more commercial acumen than the BBC currently brings to it. Indeed the partnership with IMP for the issue of BBC Legends CDs seems to be a pointer to the way this should go.

Sixth Point. It cannot be a question of complaining about the rather large Licence Fee, as I do not have a TV, but it does not stop me having a view. I find the only output of the BBC that I would truly miss nowadays is the Six PM and Midnight News on Radio Four. I could survive perfectly happily without any of the rest of it nowadays, given how rare the quality now is spread among so much dross. For my enthusiasm to come back would require that BBC radically improved the quality of all of its whole programme schedule, even if that means simply cutting out the greater proportion which is low quality time filling rubbish, and secondly find a fair way to finance the Corporation which in the entertainments area allows a degree of answerability to the people who pay for it. Perhaps the BBC should be allowed to run a Lottery for example. It is not unthinkable, and at least the public would have the choice of supporting or not.

When the BBC has no public support there is no justification for it even as a News organisation. Every member of its staff is responsible for retaining the public’s trust in their actions, and being accountable for the way money is spent, and raised.

Kindest regards from Fredrik

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Originally posted by Kevin-W:
What rubbish! Are you seriously saying that C4, the channel that broadcasts Big Brother and Wank Week; and ITV, home of those moronic late-night phone quizzes and the X Factor presents a better picture of Blighty/British society than dear old Auntie?

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Originally posted by BigH47:
Absolutely Geoff another one of those "shite" programmes.

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Originally posted by ROTF:
.. hadn't realised that Algerians took European slaves from Iceland and Ireland.

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Originally posted by Earwicker:
Since when did one swallow make a summer?