• Home
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • Date/Time
  • Login
  • Subscribe

logo

  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economics & Finance
  • World
  • Arts & Books
  • Life
  • Science
  • Philosophy
  • Subscribe
  • Events
Home
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • Politics
  • Economics & Finance
  • World
  • Arts & Books
  • Life
  • Science
  • Philosophy
  • Subscribe
  • Events
  • Home
  • Magazine

The battle for the BBC

As he prepares for charter renewal, Director General Tony Hall could learn a lot from two new histories of the national broadcaster

by John Tusa / May 21, 2015 / Leave a comment
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Email
The BBC clashed with Thatcher Ministers over its Northern Ireland coverage. © Peter Marlow/Magnum

The BBC clashed with Thatcher Ministers over its Northern Ireland coverage. © Peter Marlow/Magnum

Pinkoes and Traitors: the BBC and the Nation, 1974-87, by Jean Seaton (Profile, £30)

The New Noise: the Extraordinary Birth and Troubled Life of the BBC, by Charlotte Higgins (Guardian Books/Faber & Faber, £12.99)

When the BBC’s charter—the document that sets out its public role—comes up for renewal next year, its managers will have to define the purpose of a national broadcaster to a sceptical Tory government. How will they justify the licence fee in an age of media fragmentation, where the BBC is competing not only with fellow broadcasters ITV and Sky, but also with websites such as YouTube and Netflix? Are its most successful services—notably the BBC news website—unfairly dominating the media landscape? What kind of relationship should the BBC have with the government of the day? How does it get the balance right between elitism and populism, the familiar and the original, the unpredictable and the stale? More broadly how can it steer between its own tendency to smug complacency and compulsion for neurotic self-criticism?

Two new histories of the BBC offer a long perspective on these questions. Jean Seaton’s Pinkoes and Traitors: the BBC and the Nation, 1974-87 is the sixth volume in the official history of the BBC begun by the historian Asa Briggs. The book’s title is a problem. Denis Thatcher never called the BBC “a nest of Pinkoes and Traitors.” That’s what Private Eye imagined him saying. More importantly, Seaton records the post-Falklands War dinner when Margaret Thatcher accused the BBC’s Board of Management of “failing the nation.” Bill Cotton, the Managing Director of BBC Television, challenged her. “Prime Minister, are you calling the BBC traitors?” Thatcher was silenced. Is the title the publisher’s catchpenny fabrication?

Charlotte Higgins’s The New Noise ranges from John Reith to the present rule of Director-General Tony Hall. While lacking the analytical depth or originality of Seaton’s work, it is a useful reminder of some of the more lurid contemporary BBC crises and offers a broader framework for Seaton’s study of 1974-1987. How has the BBC survived the rows—with governments, the audience, itself? And the resignations? Each book ends with the fall of a director general, Alasdair Milne in 1987 and George…

YOU’VE HIT THE LIMIT

You have now reached your limit of 3 free articles in the last 30 days.
But don’t worry! You can get another 7 articles absolutely free, simply by entering your email address in the box below.

When you register we’ll also send you a free e-book—Writing with punch—which includes some of the finest writing from our archive of 22 years. And we’ll also send you a weekly newsletter with the best new ideas in politics and philosophy of culture, which you can of course unsubscribe from at any time







Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with our newsletter, subscription offers and other relevant information.

Click to learn more about these interests and how we use your data. You will be able to object to this processing on the next page and in all our communications.

13710314315deaf2e2817371.99290205

Go to comments

Related articles

The struggles of disadvantage don't come in neat boxes—so our response shouldn't, either
Andy Cook and Andrew Harrop / October 29, 2019
Our joint report shows that, despite different opinions, there are cross-party answers to...
Johnson interview: how the BBC failed to uphold robust journalistic practice
Roger Mosey / December 2, 2019
Consent for the licence fee depends on showing integrity in tough times, says a former...
Share with friends
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Email

Comments

  1. Jack B.
    June 10, 2015 at 22:16
    During World War Two and through Iron Curtain times when listening to the BBC was a felony offense, it was considered the strong voice of authentic truth. (The Voice of America was largely ignored.) Today, the BBC lives in a world where demands for instant gratification have been replaced by demands for instant titillation. In the U.S., the enlightened classes consider Downton Abbey High Art where once it would have been labelled pastiche. Thus, the BBC will have to follow one of two paths: that of he enlightened Oxbridge Don minus disdain of the plebes and rid of academically polluted leftism or try to compete withe mud wrestling mass media for the attention of bottom feeders. Do the former and the BBC will be accused of Elitism; do the latter and current and former fans will disdain it.
  2. Jack B.
    June 11, 2015 at 20:12
    How the BBC can prosper by improving public discourse? First, assess the inadequacies of current broadcast and on-line offerings. Sitcoms, for example, depend on set ups for one liners. Newscasts supply information without delving into meaning. Change that, working on the realization that uplift must be done gradually, almost imperceptibly to get audiences adapting to change; eventually what was foreign to them will become the norm. After informing that so-and-so said he was a life long supporter of something, a news reader adds that he voted against a certain measure during the last session. Media gurus would reject that as mixing fact with opinion. But there is no reason why explanatory fact cannot be appended to a news item. A traditional sitcom might feature housewife mother, breadwinner father, two antagonistic brothers and a younger peacekeeping daughter. They spend their time trading barbs. in today's sitcom, the cast might be one transgendered parent, one son a scholar, the other recently released from a juvenile correctional facility and a daughter unsure of her sexual identity. In the hands of a skilled dramatist with an acerbic sense of humor this tableau would be a gold mine. In the hands of typical hacks its message would be a paean to brotherly love and understanding. If the BBC will evolve and design itself to have its audiences also evolve, everyone will be enlightened.

Prospect's free newsletter

The big ideas that are shaping our world—straight to your inbox. PLUS a free e-book and 7 articles of your choosing on the Prospect website.

Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with our newsletter, subscription offers and other relevant information. Click here to learn more about these purposes and how we use your data. You will be able to opt-out of further contact on the next page and in all our communications.

This Month's Magazine

Perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus.

Inside the choice facing voters this General Election—and why the commission that regulates our democracy is struggling to keep up. Plus: Clive James on Wittgenstein, and the real story of Corbynism

Subscribe

Most Popular

  • Read
  • Commented

The free schools programme is not serving the purpose for which it was designed

Childhood obesity is nothing less than a public health emergency

Back Strop: why May can't solve the Irish issue unless she stands up to the Brexit hardliners

The mood has shifted on abortion in Northern Ireland—and Westminster can't stall forever

How to write a perfect World Cup song

Ivan Rogers on Brexit: the worst is yet to come

3 Comments

How dare those signed up to hard Brexit lecture Labour on the economy?

2 Comments

The real "Sorry We Missed You"—and what the government gets wrong about the gig economy

1 Comments

A 68-seat Johnson majority: do YouGov’s startling election figures make sense?

1 Comments

Why the London result will decide the next General Election

1 Comments

About this author

John Tusa
John Tusa is director of the Barbican Centre. His essay is adapted from a lecture given at the Museum of Ulster in November.
More by this author

More by John Tusa

For arts sake
January 20, 1997

Next Prospect events

  • Details

    Prospect Book Club - David Lammy

    London, 2020-03-19

  • Details

    Prospect Book Club - Jack Shenker

    2020-02-17

  • Details

    Prospect Book Club - Amelia Gentleman

    2020-01-27

See more events

Sponsored features

  • Delivering the UK's invisible infrastructure project

  • Future of Aid: the full report

  • A forest fund for the future

  • A new humanitarianism for the modern age

  • The future of sustainable economic development

PrimeTime

The magazine is owned and supported by the Resolution Group, as part of its not-for-profit, public interest activities.

Follow us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • RSS

Editorial

Editor: Tom Clark
Deputy Editor: Steve Bloomfield
Managing Editor (Arts & Books): Sameer Rahim
Head of Digital: Stephanie Boland
Digital Assistant: Rebecca Liu
Production Editor & Designer: Chris Tilbury
Commissioning Editor: Alex Dean
Creative Director: Mike Turner
US Writer-at-Large: Sam Tanenhaus

Commercial

Commercial Director: Alex Stevenson
Head of Marketing: Paul Mortimer
Marketing and Circulation Executive: Susan Acan
Head of Events: Victoria Jackson
Events Project Manager: Nadine Prospere
Head of Advertising Sales: Adam Kinlan 020 3372 2934
Head of Key Accounts: Scott Smith 020 3372 2972
Senior Account Manager: Patrick Lappin 020 3372 2931

  • Home
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Acceptable Use Policy
© Prospect Publishing Limited
×
Login
Login with your subscriber account:
You need a valid subscription to login.
I am
Remember Me


Forgotten password?

Or enter with social networking:
Login to post comments using social media accounts.
  • With Twitter
  • Connect
  • With Google +
×
Register Now

Register today and access any 7 articles on the Prospect’s website for FREE in the next 30 days..
PLUS find out about the big ideas that will shape our world—with Prospect’s FREE newsletter sent to your inbox. We'll even send you our e-book—Writing with punch—with some of the finest writing from the Prospect archive, at no extra cost!

Not Now, Thanks

Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with our newsletter, subscription offers and other relevant information.

Click to learn more about these interests and how we use your data. You will be able to object to this processing on the next page and in all our communications.

×
You’ve got full access!

It looks like you are a Prospect subscriber.

Prospect subscribers have full access to all the great content on our website, including our entire archive.

If you do not know your login details, simply close this pop-up and click 'Login' on the black bar at the top of the screen, then click 'Forgotten password?', enter your email address and press 'Submit'. Your password will then be emailed to you.

Thank you for your support of Prospect and we hope that you enjoy everything the site has to offer.

This site uses cookies to improve the user experience. By using this site, you agree that we can set and use these cookies. For more details on the cookies we use and how to manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy.