THE green paper on the future of broadcasting is more favourable to

the BBC than would have been the case had it been published at the

height of the Thatcher revolution in the eighties. The Government's

harassment of the corporation during that period would have been not out

of place in a totalitarian state. It is generally agreed that the BBC

suffered a loss of confidence and nerve as a result. The Birtian ethic

should not replicate the Reithian. The BBC needs its creative drive. It

was the irreverence of Hugh Carleton-Greene -- the greatest of the

post-war director-generals -- which led it into confrontation with the

forces of authority. Although we tend to associate BBC-Government

tension with the Thatcher years, it should not be forgotten that Harold

Wilson harboured intense dislike of the BBC.

In the post-Thatcher era it would be too much to say that extreme

suspicion has been replaced by extreme cordiality. There has been some

retreat from extreme attitudes which wanted to release the resources

granted to the BBC to the private sector (and Rupert Murdoch). What we

have instead is a pretty weak enthusiasm for public broadcasting. The

green paper is like the opening feints of a boxer sizing up his

opponent: a series of questions has been asked but no answers have been

given. The BBC itself has been lying low, inviting the Government to

make the first move. If it hoped to draw the Government's teeth, it must

be dis

appointed. Emollience, ambiguity and equivocation are the order of the

day.

In the more pluralist media world of the nineties, the BBC has got to

concede a little ground. Like everybody else in the business it must

accept that its role of publisher is going to grow in inverse

relationship to its role as originator

of creative programmes. But it is hard

to over-estimate the role of the BBC as patron of the arts. In

Scotland, and in parts of England such as the North-west, its support of

music and the dramatic arts has sustained indigenous culture where it

would otherwise have withered. BBC Scotland has a very distinguished

track record of producing drama and documentaries which would otherwise

not have seen the light of day. The recent radio series on Scotland's

music is a good example. Tutti Frutti was an achievement of genuine

distinction; Rab C. Nesbitt was and is an inspiring example of how a

local dramatic impulse can achieve universal import. The BBC Scottish

Orchestra is now arguably our best orchestra.

The green paper recognises this important function of patronage, and

raises the question of whether it should be shared with other funding

bodies. The orchestras, for example, could be jointly funded by the BBC

and the Arts Council. On the whole we think the Government should resist

this step and give the BBC wholehearted support, even if in a slightly

modified role. There is an argument which says the BBC should

concentrate on the things nobody else would do. That is all very well.

But the BBC should not be denied the opportunity of making popular

programmes of excellence. It might otherwise become an elitist ghetto

out of touch with reality. Its death could in such circumstances only be

a matter of time. The BBC must remain at the heart of our broadcasting

system, even if that system has to become more fragmented and populist.