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GLOBAL JOURNALIST Winter 2008
That debate has been raging
for months already and shows no
sign of early resolution. But give
it an extra twist before you stick
over any quavering answer. For
who says that public service begins
or ends with a button on your
TV? The BBC already spends over
$212 million of license fee money
on its Web sites, sending news and
videos around the world. In that
process, inescapably, it competes
with British newspapers great and
small—some reaching for salience
in global markets, some merely
happy to keep news flowing to local
towns and villages.
When the BBC pushes to collect
money from advertising in
the U.S. or Europe, for instance,
it elbows the Telegraph, Times
and Guardian aside. When it announces
a dramatic upgrading of
video news on its 65 local news
Web sites, it causes a competitive
grief to local newspapers
in exactly the same line of service
struggling to make sense
of a lousy economy. Why, then,
should broadcasting itself be left
as the only media area where top
slicing could conceivably apply?
Why not slice away a few million
more to help local papers keep
the public informed about things
it has a right to know but won’t as
the cutbacks continue?
That’s the argument raised recently
by the state regulator Ofcom
and it automatically lands
slap in the middle of a hot pot
of debate for the BBC’s governing
Trust, as well as Ofcom, to try to
sort out.
Ridiculous? Observe, indeed,
how the concept rolls merrily
along. Begin by funding one giant
state corporation devoted to
quality, neutrality and all things
nice. End by slicing the cash far
thinner and giving it to commercial
broadcasters who want their
news programs paid for and local
papers who can’t afford to
be left out of the action. In one
sense, this is perfectly consistent.
The cash goes to worthy things
in print or on screen. In another
sense, though, it’s a bad headache
waiting to happen.
Why, on a channel free to
make money from selling advertisements,
should the tax payer
have to step in to fund expensive
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