The BBC commissioned a £2 million investigation into why it failed to broadcast what it knew about Jimmy Savile, possibly the most famous TV personality of late 20th century Britain, and instead transmitted tributes to the serial child abuser after he died. The report identified catastrophic mis-m
On 31 October 2012, OurBeeb held a day-forum at King’s College London to discuss the future of the BBC. Full audio and video highlights start with a discussion between David Elstein and Lis Howell on how to fund public service broadcasting.
The press is very likely to adopt Leveson's proposals. Despite criticism, his public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the UK press has done its job.
The scandal at the BBC takes another turn. First, it suppressed a programme it should have made, revealing its leading star was a child abuser. Then, it transmits one alleging a retired colleague of Margaret Thatcher was an abuser when he wasn't. Now, it appoints a new boss at three times the Prim
The Jimmy Savile scandal has illuminated deep cracks in the BBC’s governance. A culture of immunity and blame shifting must now be faced head on for the sake of the victims and the future of the corporation.
The BBC’s decision to broadcast two tributes to Jimmy Savile while shelving a Newsnight investigation into allegations of sexual offences was a serious error of judgement. George Entwistle must now deploy the broadcaster’s considerable resources to establish what really happened and face up to his
US drama ‘The Newsroom’ demonstrates a bold attempt to meld romantic idealism with a cogent critique of the American far-right. If George Entwistle is to fulfill his aspirations and bolster BBC programming, the remit of ‘impartiality’ must be reformulated to allow the expression of positive libert
The BBC Olympic coverage was frequently less than impartial in its attitude towards Team GB. But what does it mean to be British in the context of the Games?
The BBC’s paternalistic conflation of the license fee with universalism is increasingly indefensible against competing examples of public service programming. While the organisation is tight-lipped about the future of its funding model this information must be made available to those who currently
The retention of the unique licence fee system for funding the BBC has sustained a lot of criticism in recent years, but with 95% of British households paying the fee, the defence usually centres on its guarantee of universalism. Is that a misnomer - and would a subscription model not be better fo
The latest Ofcom report on media plurality has made some progress in establishing an appropriate scope, limits and metric for measuring media consumption in the UK. Most significant is their flagging up the dominance of the BBC regarding news programming, a fact made worrying by the institution’s
