|
|
Q: Different ideas of ‘quality’ in television have played an important part in recent debates over the future of broadcasting in Britain. Discuss what kinds of services and programmes in your view make for ‘quality’ television. To understand ‘quality’ in television we need to know, firstly what quality actually is and secondly we have to understand why quality is needed in television, if indeed it is actually needed. The government decide what we can and can’t see. As much as we like to think we have a free press, the state still intervenes on some aspects of modern media. All media is regulated by laws set down by the government with regards to obscenity, defamation and incitement. And it was the government who installed the institutionalised idea of a national public service broadcasting company, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The first director general of the BBC was John Reith a man who’s vision it was to create an “ independent British broadcaster able to educate, inform and entertain the whole nation, free from commercial pressure and political interference.” (BBC.co.uk, 2003). But this wasn’t to be the last time the government would have an influence on the media, the Thatcher and Major governments were to have a huge effect in the way our media is made up to this very day. So we have our very first notions of ‘quality’ within television but to understand what ‘quality’ is actually deemed as we have to understand why we need, if indeed we do, ‘quality’ television. So the main aspects of this essay concern what quality is and whose responsibility it is to deliver quality television. We have briefly looked at the BBC, which was set up in 1922. It was extremely unique in that the Post Office set up a licensing fee of which half went directly to the BBC, so already the BBC is not dependant on the government nor is it dependant on commercial revenue. Already we can see that the BBC is going to have certain responsibilities compared to commercial stations because of the unique way in which it is funded. According to the Broadcasting Research Unit a public service broadcaster should have these eight principles; “Universally available, universality of appeal, universality of payment, distanced from vested interests, especially government, to recognise national identity and community, minority representation, focus on good programming rather than audience share and finally public guidelines should not restrict programme makers”. (Broadcasting Research Unit, 1993) The BBC and later ITV held a massive duopoly in the television world and it was not until the Thatcher government of 1980’s that this duopoly would be challenged. In 1982 Channel 4 was introduced in a bid to rattle the industry. “Quality television did have a place and it should be protected”. (Russ J Graham, 2003) Before Channel 4’s introduction ITV were keen to make hard hitting television to educate, inform and entertain in a public service style.
|
