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Broadcasting: healthy diet or junk food?
143/Frances Balfour
The DCMS has recently been holding seminars on BBC Charter renewal.
At an early seminar on 'Funding' Caroline Thompson, (Director of Public Policy, BBC) commented that, as the BBC is funded by the licence fee, paid by every one that has a television, they are very conscious of their obligation to the whole audience. Other members of the panel from the commercial sector spoke about subscription and advertising. People were prepared to pay a lot of money for programmes they want.Fine for those that can afford 'a lot of money' but is this just another way of saying that there is a lot of money to be made?
In the DCMS seminar on 'Television' Peter Bazalgette, the chairman of Endemol, an independent production company, revealed that when they make programmes for the BBC they put in more 'takeaway' than when producing for commercial companies. He did not define 'takeaway'. But it was a significant comment. What is the 'takeaway'? Maybe it covers a wide range of elements: a better constructed plot; more psychological depth in a drama; more underlying ideas; or more engagement with the social, moral or political issues of the day,
A comparison with food seems helpful. Junk food is so seductive: crisps, chips, coca cola, biscuits, chocolate, ice cream. But for a healthy diet protein, vegetables, fruit, the right balance of fats, sugars and starches, with the associated vitamins and minerals, are essential to be fit and well. Are these the edible equivalent of more TV 'takeaway'?
Advertising encourages children to eat too many foods high in salt, sugar and fat. The providers of processed foods and ready meals are giving us food with more salt than is good for us, currently successfully stalling on the government's efforts to make them reduce it. The food manufacturers make good profits but it can be at the expense of our health.
In the case of television, the BBC is aware of its responsibility to have a genuine concern for the welfare of its audiences. It can aim to provide the mental equivalent of a balanced meal or a healthy diet. Serious news, current affairs, drama, documentaries, history, science, nature programmes, gardening, religion, philosophy, and more, all perhaps fall into the category of serious nutrition.
This is not to say that public service broadcasting should never produce light and entertaining programmes, any more than one should totally exclude ice cream, puddings, chocolate or chips from one's diet. The right proportion is the key. Light comedy, variety, relaxing chat shows and perceptive but not too serious sitcoms have their place. And better quality ingredients and less of those that are harmful in excess mean that some 'junk foods' can be quite nourishing. More 'takeaway' - more quality ingredients - and less unnecessary sex and violence, simplistic stereotyping, product placement and the like
mean that some lighter programmes are less 'junk' than others.
We are fortunate that the BBC and other public service producers have set high standards and produce programmes which inform, challenge and inspire. And there are commercial companies which aim at similar quality. But technological change is leading to an explosion of commercial channels. Will all these commercial companies, as they compete for advertising, subscription and profits, produce too many 'junk' programmes with too little 'takeaway'? And will we find that only the BBC, wedded to the dull-sounding concept of public service broadcasting, has our best interests at heart?
Last modified: Saturday, December 25, 2004
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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.
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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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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
Shutting Down Indymedia: A real cause for concern
Trade Unions – a response: Operation Scapegoat Revisited
Challenging Corporate Media: 'Outfoxed', A Robert Greenwald film
WITHOUT COMMENT
Censored 2005: Peter Phillips and Project Censored (Seven Stories Press) £12.99
Iraqi journalists celebrate release of French colleagues
Your Right To Know....
IFJ Welcomes Pledge on Gongadze Case
CPBF attacks Thompson's 'Threats to the BBC'
BBC joint unions condemn Thompson plan
NUJ members to resist job cuts
Galloway wins libel case decisively
IFJ welcomes Ukrainian call for independent journalism
BP's con-tract of the century
Human rights group says Ukraine coverage is biased
New report on media ownership
IndyMedia seizure: the facts
Campaign, WACC join the wave of protest in support of IndyMedia
Wanted: Views on the future of local television
Another world is possible
CPBF adds its voice to IFJ protest
Without Comment 1
Without Comment 2
Whistleblowers get organised
Obituary: Paul Foot
Broadcasting: the European dimension
NUJ launches PR guidelines
Toxic Sludge
1979, trade unions and journalism
Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power and Patrimony by Paul Ginsborg, Verso £16.00
