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Labour’s TV Policies: Book Launch
137/By Nicholas Jones
Although there were plenty of well-deserved plaudits for the author, the launch party for Des Freedman’s book, Television Policies of the Labour Party 1951-2001, did little to dispel a general sense of foreboding about the future prospects for broadcasting in Britain. Freedman seemed as perplexed as his guests when he posed the question: ‘Why did it all go wrong?’After having spent fifty years trying unsuccessfully to match the Conservatives’ innovations in radio and television, a Labour government had ended up embarking on the greatest act of deregulation the industry had ever known and Freedman was convinced it was unlikely to lead to ‘a happy ending’.
He thought Tony Blair’s willingness to court media magnates was a case of history repeating itself. Throughout the 1960s Harold Wilson had felt much happier and more comfortable dealing with the bosses of commercial tv and therefore it was no real surprise that Labour had ended up being closer even than the Tories to both ITV and the Murdoch empire.
Tony Benn opened the proceedings by acknowledging the thrust of Freedman’s conclusion about Labour’s lack of impact in the development of British broadcasting; the Conservatives had made ‘all the major policy decisions’ and not a single BBC charter had been looked at by a Labour government. ‘We now face deregulation and global control and the great fear that all our commercial stations could end up being owned by the Americans’.
Tony Lennon, Bectu’s president, congratulated Freedman for demonstrating so clearly how little Labour had influenced the history of tv. After reading the book he had drawn up his own checklist of the key events and it made depressing reading: the Tories had established the BBC licence and charter, started ITV, and launched BBC 2, commercial radio and Channel 5.
‘As Des has shown there was no shortage of inspired thinkers in Labour …passionate people had far reaching and ambitious policies…time and again their gutsy ideas were dumped and always seemed to end up in the recycling centre at party conference’.
Lennon urged the labour and trade union movement to do all it could to hold the government to account by protecting genuine choice and the social values that had so distinguished British tv and radio. ‘If the Labour government don’t hold firm to the commitment they made to regional programming and production, they will drop the ball at the first time they were in the driving seat…and if they drop the ball on the renewal of the BBC charter, they will have missed a great opportunity’.
Last modified: Sunday, December 7, 2003
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Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
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MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Miscellany
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T
BENIGN DICTATORSHIP
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AND BEEBWATCH
THE DOTTY & BARMY WATCHDOG
The Murdoch Dossier
BCT PIPELINE PROTEST
LAKENHEATH TRESPASS DAY
NO NEW OIL DAYSCHOOL
Oil, war and climate change: dismantling the oil economy.
FREE CAMPAIGN POSTCARDS
Weapons of Mass Deception - the uses of propaganda in Bush's war on Iraq
Free Press 135
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COMPETITIVE PRESSURES
PLATFORM: COMMERCIAL PRESSURES ON ITN
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Journalism Studies
ACCESS FOR ALL OR ACCESS DENIED?
No drinking up time at the Last Chance Saloon
Plaudits for Presswise
MEDIA MONITOR: Freedom of Information Blocked
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CPBF NEWS: AGM HAS THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS
The Dotty & Barmy Watchdog
Editorial
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