Letter: BBC put on a good show
While I can only agree with Daniel Kawczynski MP that the BBC’s coverage of the jubilee was pretty terrible, with ill-informed commentators and little direction, I’m disappointed he has chosen to expand his criticisms to an attack on the BBC as a whole.
While I can only agree with Daniel Kawczynski MP that the BBC’s coverage of the jubilee was pretty terrible, with ill-informed commentators and little direction, I’m disappointed he has chosen to expand his criticisms to an attack on the BBC as a whole.
This is a shame because you only have to watch TV in any other country to realise that, despite its faults, the British broadcasting landscape remains the best in the world.
This is in no small part to the massive contribution of the BBC, which among its undoubted chaff, still produces some of the best quality dramas, comedies, documentaries and current affairs programmes made anywhere.
Only HBO and Showtime come close to rivalling it for quality drama.
When we have a devastated economy, a looming energy crisis and numerous other real crises to contend with, I find it sad that our MP is seeking to waste parliamentary time with a debate on one of the few institutions in the country that still works well.
As the adage goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Steve Parker
Shrewsbury
Comments for: "Letter: BBC put on a good show"
Nistagmus
Look, Daniel Kawczynski got off his busy schedule of lying in the road to stop an incinerator being built to make those comments about the BBC. Don't you think you're being a bit harsh ?
Colin Dodd.
Having just spent two weeks in the UK with friends,I can see why freeview is so popular.
I trolled through the BBC offerings on a couple of occasions, and, to be perfectly frank, it was rubbish.
Banal game shows, mediocre documentaries, and, as for Eastenders, well, I despair. Where on earth did they dig up the cast for that, and more to the point why?
B oring
B land
C laptrap.
Nistagmus
And did you find anything worthy of your attention on any of the other freeview channels ?
bob dobbs
Babestation perhaps?
Katherine de Gama
Yes, but BBC radio is good, especially Radio 4 and the World Service. They are worth £145 a year.
pete
why oh why won't this government privatise the BBC?
Media should stand on its own not be subject to taxpayer funding , its an entertainment nothing more.
Nistagmus
Media =/= Entertainment, therefore your statement is invalid.
Katherine de Gama
The BBC is a national institution, like the monarchy.
Steve Parker
The reason is that I might have seemed a little harsh on Daniel is that, having worked as a journalist covering the broadcast industry, I saw Conservative politicians constantly using whatever occasion they could to attack the BBC based purely on an ideology that despises anything that is not privatised.
The irony is that it's the same people on the right-wing (I'm not suggesting Daniel here) who are wont to talk at length about attacks on British culture. I say irony because the BBC is the biggest flag-waver we have for British culture globally.
For the three decades prior to 1973 it was the British film industry that flew the flag for Britain more than any institution (think David Lean, etc). Every other developed nation understands the importance of a homegrown film industry in capturing and preserving its culture – the US gives vast opaque tax concessions to Hollywood; throughout Europe, a certain percentage of films in cinemas (usually 20-30%) have to be homegrown.
The removal of the Eady Levy in the early 70s killed our film industry. Harry Potter and James Bond are American-owned movies. In fact, only 4% of movies that make it into cinemas now are British, and these are often low-budget and indie. A media industry that "stands on its own" dies when it has to compete with subsidised foreign competition.
We have lost the film industry and have become a service industry, renting out our talent to foreign studios. Yet we still have the BBC, with its remit to broadcast a high percentage of homegrown programmes; its commitment to public service. If you can't find a programme you like of an evening, that may be because it still produces a lot of programmes that are targeted at smaller smaller interests in an attempt to cover the whole spectrum.
Not knocking Sky – if you like sport and high-quality US dramas, comedies, etc, it offers a decent output. But other than in its football obsession, in what way does it contribute to British culture like BBC Radio and TV do?
It is my firm view that, even though I'd be happy to see the backs of some of the corporation's commissioning editors, the BBC should be defended at all costs. Privatising it would likely mean we just have two Sky TV chasing after bigger and even more expensive sports rights.