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My talk to the media think-tank IfM in Berlin about the 'crisis' facing the BBC in the short, medium and long term. The specific problems like Savile but also the wider context of media change and competition. It was described as 'optimistic'
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BBC: British Broadcasting Crisis?
Prof. Charlie BeckettDirector, Polis
London School of EconomicsIfM, Berlin, April 30th 2013
A history of crisis
• 1926 General Strike• IRA censorship• Death on the Rock• Hutton Report
A question of trust
• Olympic coverage• Savile – the abuse scandal• Savile – the editorial scandal• MacAlpine Newsnight• Entwistle• Pollard Report
Trust in Tony (Hall)
• Political Ding Dong • LSE Korea• Appointments • Pay off cap
Medium Term Problems
• Budget cuts• Integration of World• Inefficiencies• Management responsibilities• Charter negotiations for 2016
Political reasons to be cheerful
• Has good leadership again• Has addressed its own failings openly• Still has incredible resources, reach and public
approval• There is no agenda to dismantle the BBC
Challenges: internally
• Moving from fortress to networked organisation:• Less internal division• Move from producer to service model – i.e. not
there for its own staff• More external collaboration• Commissioning model?• End of the channel model• Definition of the brand – what is public service?
universality?
Public Service Media Challenge
• Creative industry hub• Citizen information and engagement service• Competitive media company• Network innovation pioneer• Ethical, social, added value
Longer-term problems
• End of licence fee (see Finland and Sweden)• Prioritisation v universality• Competition eg Sky, AJE, Netflix, YouTube• Moving from fortress to networked
organisation • End of ‘the channel’
Why PSM should thrive
• Funding • Reputation• Trust• Social function• Confidence and competence in an age of
complexity and uncertainty
BBC: British Broadcasting Crisis?
Prof. Charlie BeckettDirector, Polis
London School of EconomicsIfM, Berlin, April 30th, 2013