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Internal reorganizationhas led to a slimmer and more efficient organization. But it has had to develop alternative formsof funding, such as subscription and pay services and must include independent productions in25 per cent of its television schedules.The BBC’s external services, which consist of radio broadcasts in English (the WorldService) and 42 other languages abroad, were founded in 1932 and are funded by the ForeignOffice. These have a reputation for objective news reporting and programmes.
The BBC alsobegan commercially funded television programmes in 1991 by cable to Europe and by satellitelinks to Africa and Asia; BBC World (news) – now merged with the World Service – and BBCPrime (entertainment).The BBC is not a state organization, in the sense that it is controlled by the government.But it is not as independent of political pressures as many in Britain and overseas assume. Itscharter has to be renewed by Parliament and by its terms government can, and does, intervene inthe showing of programmes which are alleged to be controversial or against the public interest.The BBC governors, although supposedly independent, are in fact government appointees.Governments can also exert pressure upon the BBC when the licence fee comes up for renewalby Parliament.The BBC does try to be neutral in political matters, to such an extent that all politicalparties have periodically complained that it is prejudiced against them.
The major parties haveequal rights to broadcast on the BBC and independent television.Historically, the BBC was affected by the invention of television, which changed Britishentertainment and news habits. The BBC now has two television channels (BBC1 and BBC2).BBC1 is a mass-appeal channel with an audience share of 28 per cent. Its programmes consist ofnews, plays and drama series, comedy, quiz shows, variety performances, sport anddocumentaries. BBC2, with an audience share of 11 per cent, tends to show more serious itemssuch as news analysis and discussion, documentaries, adaptations of novels into plays and series,operas, concerts and some sport.
It is also provides Open University courses. The Labourgovernment has approved (2001) the expansion of BBC television (digital) services by thecreation of a BBC4 channel (culture and the arts) and two channels for children under six andover.BBC Radio performs an important service, although some of its audiences have declinedrecently. There are five national channels (to be increased by five new digital channels); 39 localstations serving many districts in England; and regional and community services in Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland.
They all have to compete for listeners with independent stations butoffer an alternative in news, debate and local information to pop-based local and nationalcommercial stations. The national channels specialize in different tastes. Radio 1 caters for popmusic; Radio 2 has light music, news, and comedy; Radio 3 provides classical and modernserious music, talks, discussions and plays; Radio 4 concentrates on news reports, analysis, talksand plays; and Radio 5 Live (established 1990) has sport and news programmes.The role and influence of televisionTelevision is an influential and dominant force in modern Britain, as well as a popularentertainment activity.
Over 98 per cent of the population have television sets in their homes; 95per cent of these are colour sets; and over 50 per cent of homes have two sets or more. Somepeople prefer to rent their sets instead of owning them because rented sets are repaired andmaintained free of charge. However, recent reports (2001) suggest that radio (commercial andBBC) is now more popular than television, indicating that some people are deserting the latterbecause of its allegedsuperficiality. Nevertheless, television has an average viewing time of26hours per week.A large number of the programmes shown on television are made in Britain, althoughthere are also many imported American series. A few programmes come from other Englishspeaking countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
But there are relatively fewforeign-language productions on British television and these are either dubbed or subtitled.The range of programmes shown is very considerable, but they also vary widely inquality. Although British television has a high reputation abroad, it does attract substantialcriticism in Britain, either because of the standard of the programmes or because they arefrequently repeated.News reports, documentaries and current-afairs analyses are generally of a high standard,as are dramatic, educational, sporting, natural history and cultural productions.
But there is also awide selection of series, soap operas, films, quizzes and variety shows which are of doubtfulquality.The recent addition of Reality-TV (such as Big Brother and Survivor) and similar genreshas led to charges of a ‘dumbing-down’ of British television. Programmes are calculated toappeal to a mass audience and high ratings, which the television companies need to attractadvertising and justify expenditure. However, a MORI/Voks Pops poll in August 2001 reportedthat 61 per cent of fifteen to twenty-four-year-olds believed that reality television helps to teachthem about the ways in which people interact with each other. But rather than imitating shockingbehaviour in the programmes they are grateful for the chance to learn important life lessons andskills.
Television, in this view, is taking on a parenting and teaching role.Competition between the BBC and independent television is strong, and the battle of theratings (the number of people watching individual programmes) indicates the popularity (orotherwise) of offerings. But competition can mean that similar programmes are shown at thesame time on the major channels, in order to appeal to specific markets and attract the biggestshare of the audience.
It is also argued that competition has reduced the quality of programmesoverall and resulted in an appeal to the lowest common denominator in taste. The BBC inparticular is criticized for its failure to provide high-quality arts, drama and news programmes,with a slide into commercialism in the battle for ratings. It is argued that the BBC must maintainits public service obligations to quality and creativity in order to justify its universal licence fee.Voices have been raised about the alleged levels of sex, violence and bad language onBritish television, particularly before the ‘watershed’ of 9 p.m. when young children may bewatching. Some individuals have attempted to reform and influence the kind of programmes thatare shown.Research suggests that the public can be morally harmed by the content ofsome televisionprogrammes.
The Conservative government considered that violence, sex and obscenity ontelevision do affect viewers and was concerned to ‘clean up’ television. A BroadcastingStandards Complaints Commission monitors programmes, examines complaints, establishescodes of conduct for the broadcasting organizations and has tightened its rules concerninginvasion of privacy by broadcasters.
The structure of British broadcasting, 2001nasties’ (videoswhich portray extreme forms of violence and brutality) have been banned and rules for the saleof videos have been tightened. Some 69 per cent of homes now own at least one video-cassetterecorder. But British Social Attitudes 2000–01 suggested that Britons are becoming morepermissive about the portrayal of sex in the media if this is relevant to a plot, and morepermissive if it occurs outside a family context on adult channels, video and cinema.Today, there is fierce competition among broadcasters to attract viewers and advertisingrevenue.
But it is questionable whether an ‘entertainments’ expansion means more genuinechoice or declining quality.Digital broadcasting will increase television channels and may transform the medium intoan interactive force which combines the Internet and personalized programming in one package.But broadcasters risk losing audiences and revenue as more people switch to the Internet itself asan alternative to television. In 2000, 25 per cent of British households had Internet access.Oxford survey on internet use in BritainThe Oxford Internet Institute has released the OxIS Report 2007, the latest report in aseries OII surveys that examine internet access, use and attitudes in Britain. A key finding is thata digital divide continues to exist.The University’s Oxford Internet Institute (OII) has released the OxIS Report 2007, thelatest report in a series of Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS) that examine internet access, use andattitudes in Britain.A key finding is that a ‘digital divide’ continues to exist with retired users three times lesslikely to use the internet than students.
Ex-users are most likely to have stopped going online dueto a lack of interest and access, but non-users cited ‘lack of skill’ as the main reason for not usingthe internet. Internet users think the internet is as reliable as television, but those who do not usethe internet trust the television more as a source of information.Other interesting trends to emerge from the study are:-- 17 per cent of internet users currently maintain an online social networking profile-- 85 per cent of users in Britain use a broadband connection for home access-- One third of student users have met someone online, and 13 per cent have met a person offlinewho they first met online-- 93 per cent of all internet users send emails and as many as 60 per cent use instant messaging-- 72 per cent of internet users believe that 'the internet can be addictive'Dr Ellen Helsper, OxIS coordinator from the OII, said: ‘One of the issues that concern usmost in relation to the internet in Britain is that we found that the ‘digital divide’ continues toexist.
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