I've been avoiding commenting on the fiasco the BBC has got itself into about rigged competitions because I don't want to give the impression of some frustrated harpie wingeing from the sidelines. This is not the case - I've left and left it behind. However watching Mark Thomson on the TV last night has wound me up enough to say what I think.
The story has it all, the arrogance and complacency that allowed them to get into the mess in the first place, Mark Thomson's hard man, command and control response, and then bleating on, again, about trust ...Earl Mardle agrees and as he says there is a lot of repairing to do - not least inside the organisation. I reckon the best scenario would be for it to all fall apart and then the good guys, and there are still a hell of a lot of them there, can rebuild the place in a form approriate to the current, distributed, story telling world.
Hi big guy! I don't necessarily disagree with your reaction, but I don't think the breakup of the Beeb and its reformation by clueful people (of whom it has many) would necessarily be a good thing. Large bureaucracies can be good bad or downright evil, but sometimes the good ones are necessary vehicles for a culture that might otherwise not continue.
I care about quality news, information, public service and intelligent documentaries, so I rather like the Beeb as a "consumer". I care more about the Beeb's position on Iraq and other issues than I do about whether dumb competitions are also sometimes a bit of con. Although generally supine in a way that reflects an innate alliance with the FCO/MOD, the Beeb has at least also provided some intelligent and honest analysis of events. Hutton meant more than BluePeterGate, for example. Compare the Beeb to commercial media and tell me it doesn't fill what otherwise would be a huge gap in public life. So I am thinking that imperfect though it is, better to keep it than lose it.
Also, I suspect the arrogance etc you refer to is partly a product of programme makers as well as managers, although you could argue that the post-Birt "target" culture is really to blame. That can still be fixed.
Just another perspective (personal opinion, not representin' anyone, could easily be wrong; my company does some work for the Beeb as do lots of others, but that has nothing to do with this issue I hope ;-)
Posted by: Lee Bryant | July 20, 2007 at 10:17 PM
I disagree that the bureaucracy is a necessary vehicle "for a culture that might otherwise not continue." The people and their relationships do that in spite of the bureaucracy not because of it. The BBC has always existed at the bottom and the edges and various deluded individuals at the top and in the middle have convinced themselves they were running the place.
I wish I shared your belief in the news on the BBC. Yes there are still talented and brave journalists but I find myself turning it off more and more because of the sensationalism and journalistic mush that surrounds the occasional good report.
As to the culture being fixable it was actually in conversation with someone still at the beeb that the fall apart solution was suggested. Sometimes the only thing that makes people wake up is when they reach crisis point and what is happening at the BBC feels more like a frog in a pan.
Posted by: Euan Semple | July 20, 2007 at 10:33 PM
Yes, sadly you could be right. But can you name a better single source of news about things that matter anywhere in the world? I can't. And for me, that's the danger. The BBC was a product of specific historical circumstances and, if destroyed, would not be re-created.
That's kind of what I meant by saying that sometimes institutions (that's the word I was looking for, not bureaucracy) can hold open a space and a position over long periods of time. I think that's the case with the Beeb, because if it goes then the idea of a publically funded body with a wide educational, democratic and public service remit would go with it, never to return.
It is certainly in a kind of crisis, but I would rather see the smart people at the bottom and the edges (as you say) fix it than the government snatch back the license fee and invite bids for a PPP with Virgin or Sky or worse. What I hope they can preserve is the unique remit, the culture and history and the committed, creative people who drive innovation from the inside.
Posted by: Lee Bryant | July 21, 2007 at 02:24 PM
Or....
http://openmedianetwork.org.uk/
You get people migrating from the traditional organisational framework to the organic distributed ecosystem.
Posted by: Michael Walsh | July 21, 2007 at 03:25 PM