BBC6 Music (count them: 1,2,3,4,5,6) and its Asian Network are facing closure, the comfortably remunerated Mark Thomson, Director General, has said, to howls of complaint.
There is one question we should ask, and indeed the BBC should ask itself, when considering its involvement in a programme or channel. ‘Could this be done equally well by the private sector?’
In the case of these two, it is said that BBC6 is giving airtime to bands which aren’t heard elsewhere. The reason for this is that the massive financial clout of the BBC is starving potential small stations from the airwaves. It’s like nationalising the Post Office and saying ‘see? No one else delivers letters’.
There may be enough Asians in Britain to justify the occasional programme, but there are not enough for a ‘network’ outside the Asian section of the World Service.
Apart from the World Service and the website (which they are also cutting), the BBC needs two or three platforms: Radio 4, BBC1 TV and maybe Radio 3 to do arts. For the rest, it should be a commissioner of public service programmes.
Politicians rightly hate to be seen to be dictating to the BBC but the upshot of this is that we have given it the right to tax the people of the UK and create a vast, bureaucratic, self serving Leviathan. Again at this last Olympics we sent more BBC staff than athletes. I am told it only needs a hopeful in the Women’s Slalom to come from, say, Henley-in-Arden and BBC Radio Henley-in-Arden has to send its representative with recording staff to do the interviews.
It has got to stop. I suspect the only reason they are making these minuscule cuts now is that they don’t want to be put under scrutiny after the election. The sooner they are the better.
No comments:
Post a Comment