BBCs Independence from the UK Government - Report Example

How BBC attempt to maintain its independence from the UK government According to Wikipedia, "In the United Kingdom the term 'public service broadcasting' refers to broadcasting that is for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns." The television and radio broadcasters also need to fulfill certain requirements, laid down by the communications regulator Ofcom, as part of their licence to broadcast. All the television and radio stations of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) have a public service remit. However, even the private companies like Channel 3, GMTV, Channel Four and Five are obliged to give public service programming as they are mostly viewed freely anywhere in the UK. The BBC is a non-commercial and the most well-known public service broadcaster (PSB) in the UK. However, it was with the launch of the first commercial broadcaster ITV in 1955, which made the government formulate certain rules, wherein, the broadcasters were obliged to show a certain level of local news coverage, arts and religious programming. Later, with the launch of other commercial television broadcasters, the government started PSB channels like Channel 4 and S4C. Channel 4 catered to the minorities and arts, whereas, S4C focused on Welch language programs. Later, Channel 4 went through a restructuring under the Broadcasting Act 1990. Even ITV is attempting to restructure its model by reducing unprofitable PSB programming. The major reason for these PSB channels to restructure is due to the increased competition from the digital and the multi-channel television. Recently, even Ofcom has come up with a consulting paper to decide on what direction the PSB channels should take in the near future. The Ofcom in its report assessed the effectiveness of the designated public service broadcasters - BBC, Channel 3, Channel 4, Five, S4C and Teletext - in delivering the public service purposes set out in the Communications Act in the UK. The report also analysed "how the quality of public service broadcasting can be maintained and strengthened in future." Ofcom set a new framework for PSB that would be adaptable to "respond to and reflect changing technologies, markets, and the needs of citizens and consumers." The Ofcom in its report recommended the formation of a new Public Service Publisher, which would be flexible enough to adapt to the constant changes witnessed in the media industry in the contemporary world. The report also addressed the issue of the governance of the BBC. It stated that the governance framework should "support a well-run, strong, independent and properly funded BBC which operates consistently in the public interest." However, Ofcom also demanded to have a greater clarity between the functions of internal governance, the accountability of publicly funded bodies in broadcasting and of regulation for the broadcasting sector as a whole. The BBC, developed under the first Director General of the channel Lord Reith, had the mission to inform, educate and entertain. Although, being funded by the government, the BBC tried to remain independent from the government's interference, which has made the BBC a respected organisation throughout the world. However, the danger of being influenced by the government and the upper-class society always lurks on an organisation funded by the government. Further, BBC has also earned the reputation for 'cultural paternalism' and being 'popular with the upper-middle-class viewers'. This is also being attacked by the left-wing critics of the media time and again. The first challenges to the BBC's monopoly came in the early 1950s in a report by Ronald Coase, an economist with the London School of Economics and Political Science. Coase in his paper "The British Broadcasting Corporation. A Study in Monopoly" (Coase 1950) identified two clusters of arguments supporting the BBC's monopoly i.e. arguments from technical and efficiency considerations and arguments from programming considerations. Later, former Prime Minister Thatcher, set up the Peacock Commission to investigate the methods of financing the BBC. The committee compiled a list of elements - it received from the Broadcasting Research Unit - which make up public service broadcasting. The list encompassed of the following: geographic universality, catering for all interests and tastes, catering for minorities, concern for national identity and community, detachment from vested interests and government, one broadcasting system to be directly funded by the corpus of users, competition for good programming rather than for numbers and guidelines to liberate programme makers and not restrict them. The Peacock Committee advocated restructuring the UK broadcasting system through a "sophisticated market system based on consumer sovereignty" Such a system would, the Committee argued enlarge "both the freedom of choice of the consumer and the opportunities available to programme makers to offer alternative wares to the public". Peacock's objectives were thus both political and ideological and also improvement of the sector's efficiency. On the recommendation given by the committee, Thatcher "resolved to submit the BBC to the rigours of the marketplace." However, with the growth in technological innovations in broadcasting segment, the role of government regulation was started getting questioned. Even the 1996 Broadcasting Act raised the issue of government's regulatory role. Some analysts also argued that as the press is not regulated by any central regulatory authority, then why should the broadcasters be regulated by the government. Further, the need for lesser government interference was also needed due to the increase in competition amongst broadcasters for a share of a finite fund of advertising support. Some also believed that quality television can be sustained in the free market as it happened in the case of Discovery Channel. However, the issue with BBC is funding and with the government, the question of access. At present, BBC1 has an audience share of 30% to 40%, which gives the government a reason to use the network to spread information, education and culture to the poorer sectors of the population. The regulation of news and current affairs programs might not be possible in future with the development of digital television. However, in today's scenario, the broadcasting spectrum is a scarce resource and therefore, corporation vying to enter the industry are willingly accepting the imposition of some public service responsibility in return for access to a scarce resource. But, this condition might soon change, when the broadcasting industry in the UK turns towards digital technology. However, in such a circumstance, the private players would monopolies the market and would not look after the interest of the masses. These corporations would only broadcast commercially viable programs that would earn them greater revenues. Various analysts have cited the influence of Rupert Murdoch on the media in Europe. They believe that to give a proper answer to such profit-making organizations, the government should encourage PSB and give them more freedom to produce not just socially-relevant programs but also commercially viable one as well. Even Irish Trade Union chief, David Beggs has expressed his concern at the development of media monopolies in Ireland and the UK. He said that "Media diversity is of concern not just to journalists because media ownership has a direct impact on democracy, he said. Media organisations, he said, are interested in accumulating not just profits but power, and media ownership means political power." Most of the contemporary discussions on the broadcasting policy in the UK now focus closely on the role and purpose of the BBC. This debate has intensified due to the fact that "the BBC's Royal Charter comes to the end of its customary ten year period in 2006 and the terms on which the Charter is to be renewed are currently a matter of intense public debate." However, the BBC time and again has tried to re-affirm its position and independence. Some of the major contemporary landmarks in the re-assessment of the BBC's role and performance are: the BBC's own "renewal" manifesto "Building Public Value" (BBC 2004), Ofcom's Review of Public Service Television Broadcasting (Ofcom 2005), the Report of the Burns Committee on BBC Charter Review (DCMS 2004 and 2005), the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport Report "A Public BBC" (House of Commons Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport 2004), and the Government's Green Paper "Review of the BBC's Royal Charter: A Strong BBC, Independent of Government" (DCMS 2005a). During the last few years, the BBC has also incorporated many changes to keep in pace with the changing time. For instance, it has shown greater transparency in undertaking its activities like requiring independent evaluation of proposals for new services and establishing a network of public advisory bodies. The BBC has also given greater accountability to the public through a reformed complaints procedure and a tri-annual survey of licence fee payers. It also started the measurement of performance against a 'public value' criterion. The organisation also increased the proportion of television programmes sourced from independent producers to about 40%. Recently, the BBC has also established a new governance arrangement with a stricter separation between management and Governors and a mandate of the Governors to evaluate stringently and independently management proposals and performance. It has also strengthened the Governors' secretariat. Although, the BBC has undergone changes since its inception, there are a few concern areas that are still being discussed in the media circuit. Some of them are the issues of accountability, governance and independence, pluralism and competition and definition of PSB's role and remit. Both the BBC and the government are trying to resolve these issues. On the issue of accountability, the BBC in "Building Public Value" and the Government, in the Green Paper, both proposed improvements in the BBC's accountability to its viewers and listeners. Similarly, Ofcom also proposed to make BBC more clearly and straightforwardly accountable to Ofcom and to harmonise the BBC's inter-institutional accountability arrangements. On the issue of governance, the BBC and the government have diverging views as a debate is raging whether the self-regulation of the BBC should be undertaken by a BBC Trust or by the BBC Governors or by Ofcom or by a new public service broadcasting regulator. However, on the issue of pluralism, analysts agree that the programme supply by independent producers should increase. Analysts also stress on the need to define the term PSB, which might guide policy makers in allocation of resources and assessing performance. The future of the BBC is a question of consideration in the UK. Both the government and the BBC propose modest improvements in the BBC's accountability and governance, in order to compete in the current market trend. However, most industry analyst recommends significant changes in the role and remit, shape and size of the BBC as well as the PSB in the UK. However, the challenge that lies in front of the BBC is to integrate itself within the rapidly changing broadcasting environment, to develop the corporate governance in both the public and the private sectors, and to continue the importance of enabling the BBC to deliver innovative, inspiring and informative programming of the highest possible standard. References: Collins, Richard, 16-7-2006, Taking the high ground: the struggle for ideas in UK broadcasting policy, [online], http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/rcollins/taking_high_ground.pdf BBC Charter Review, 16-7-2006, BBC Governance: Preferred Model - BBC Board plus Public Service Broadcasting Commission, [online], http://www.bbccharterreview.org.uk/pdf_documents/050123a_Governance.pdf Wikipedia.org, 16-7-2006, Public Service Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, [online], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service_broadcasting_in_the_United_Kingdom Cultsock.ndirect.co.uk, 16-7-2006, Mass media: broadcasting systems, [online], http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/media/peacock.html Currie, David, 16-7-2006, Ofcom review of public service television broadcasting - Phase 3 - Competition for quality, [online], http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/psb3/ Culture.gov.uk, 16-7-2006, BBC and other public service broadcasting, [online], http://www.culture.gov.uk/broadcasting/bbc.htm Read More