Public Service Broadcasting Essay -- essays papers

Public Service BroadcastingFrom the establishment of the BBC in the recent 1920s, British audiences were given the opportunity of taking part in a shared national experience and interest. Since that time, an apparent agreement has costed as to the general aims of beam by the BBC which fell under the heading public service broadcasting. Although the BBC no longer enjoys a broadcasting monopoly, the promise to provide a mix of computer programming by which audiences whitethorn be educated as well as entertained has been emulated by the other terrestrial broadcasters, beginning with ITV in the 1950s. However, recent age have shown a breakdown to this widespread agreement and the term public service broadcasting now seems to exist as more of an amorphous caprice than anything with a real concrete description. Perhaps because the term brings with it a number of complexities that serve to hinder the mission of public service broadcasting. How does one determine what someone else should watch? What type of person would be making that decision and does it have the potential to be elitist? Can a single broadcasting entity actually evoke to one mass audience in a society as diverse as Britains? And does the concept of this national interest even exist at all? Its questions like these that bring to mind potential problems with the programs broadcast by the BBC and indicate that there is a lot more imbedded in the concept of public service broadcasting than one might assume. For no matter how no matter how much its traditions purport to reach out to seduce a cohesion for a mass audience, public service broadcasting can to a fault contribute to a very misrepresentative appearance of British society. wholeness aspect of the television medium that is so unique is its pervasive nature on our lives. For many, it is not only the primary source of entertainment and information, but also of education. Therefore, in a public service sense it is necessary to go beyond merely producing quality programs, even producing quality programs at peak hours that ordain attract a large audience. Rather, it also involves providing a focus for those activities which are best regarded as a common experience. Whether it be a the Wedding of Charles and Diana, a World Cup Football match, or news of a fateful event, television has a unique ability to generate a sense of c... ...s, kind of than the audience that own the station. Its centralized monopoly can serve a censoring body and does not allow all voices in society to have a voice, although the BBC deems itself representative of a national institution. For this reason it cannot be justified to have a mass audience pay for a license fee that may not be catering at all to their interests or culture and perhaps the only way to justify the programming of the BBC is by adopting a manner of optional subscription fees. As far as it may have developed since the time of its founding, the BBC s till remains somewhat stuck to its original ideals which have made it unattainable to become that national institution that it claims to be.BibliographyBritish Broadcasting Corperation. Our Commitment to You. London BBC Publications, 1998.Department of National Heritage. The Future of the BBC. London Department of National Heritage, 1994.Green, Damien. A better BBC Public Service Broadcasting in the 90s. London Center for Policy Studies England, 1991.MacCabe, Colin. The BBC and Public Service Broadcasting. London Manchester University Press, 1986.Madison, James. Federalist Paper No. 10