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suspicion has been replaced by extreme cordiality.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.
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