British Broadcasting Corporation

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The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known more simply as the BBC, is the world's largest broadcasting corporation.[1]

It has 28,500 employees in the United Kingdom alone with an annual budget of more than £4 billion/$8 billion.[2][3]

Origins and history

The BBC was the first national state broadcasting organisation.[4] Founded on 18 October 1922] as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, it was subsequently granted a Royal Charter and was made a publicly funded corporation in 1927. The corporation produces programmes and information services, broadcasting globally on television, radio, and the Internet. The stated mission of the BBC is "to inform, educate and entertain" (as laid down by Parliament in the BBC Charter);[5] its motto is "Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation".

The BBC is a quasi-autonomous public corporation as a public service broadcaster. The Corporation is run by the BBC Trust; and is, per its charter, supposed to be "free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners".[6]

The BBC's domestic programming is primarily funded by levying television licence fees (under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949), although money is also raised through commercial activities such as sale of merchandise and programming. The BBC World Service, however, is funded through a grant-in-aid by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As part of the BBC Charter, the Corporation cannot show commercial advertising on any services in the United Kingdom (television, radio, or internet). Outside the United Kingdom the BBC broadcasts commercially funded channels such as BBC America, BBC Canada, and BBC World News. In order to justify the licence fee, the BBC is expected to produce a number of high-rating shows in addition to programmes that commercial broadcasters would not normally broadcast.

Relationship with business and the state

The General Strike 1926

John Reith confided to his diary: "The Cabinet decision is really a negative one. They want to be able to say that they did not commandeer us, but they know they can trust us not to be really impartial." [7] Reith is also quoted as saying: “since the BBC was a national institution, and since the government in this crisis was acting for the people...the BBC was for the government in the crisis too.” [8]

John Pilger contrasts the actual implementation of a policy on impartiality with the literal meaning. He states:[9]

The BBC began in 1922, just before the corporate press began in America. Its founder was Lord John Reith, who believed that impartiality and objectivity were the essence of professionalism. In the same year the British establishment was under siege. The unions had called a general strike and the Tories were terrified that a revolution was on the way. The new BBC came to their rescue. In high secrecy, Lord Reith wrote anti-union speeches for the Tory Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and broadcast them to the nation, while refusing to allow the labor leaders to put their side until the strike was over. So, a pattern was set. Impartiality was a principle certainly: a principle to be suspended whenever the establishment was under threat. And that principle has been upheld ever since.

The Miners' Srike 1984

British politician Tony Benn writes of the miners' strike at Orgreave:

It was the cavalry charges by the mounted police which triggered some stone-throwing by pickets. On that occasion though, BBC chiefs instructed the news bulletins to reverse the order of the film in order to suggest that the stones were thrown first and the cavalry charge came second. [10]

Structure

Management

The BBC is a nominally autonomous corporation, independent from direct government intervention, with its activities being overseen by the BBC Trust, formerly the Board of Governors. General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General, who is appointed by the Trust.

Executive Board

The Executive Board oversees the effective delivery of the corporation's objectives and obligations within a framework set by the BBC Trust, and is headed by the Director-General, Mark Thompson. In December 2006, Thompson announced the final appointments to the new Executive Board, consisting of ten directors from the different operations of the group, and five non-executive directors, appointed to provide independent and professional advice to the Executive Board. The members are:[11]

Non-executive directors

Governors

The Board of Governors regulated the group from incorporation in 1927 until 31 December 2006, when the Board was replaced by the BBC Trust. The governors as of the dissolution of the Board were:

Affiliations of BBC staff

In July 2009 the BBC required its newsreader George Alagiah to resign as patron of the Fairtrade Foundation UK. Hugh Muir, writing in the The Guardian, commented:

George is extremely upset about this and fought the decision, but to no avail. He believes his role and profile helps developing-world farmers get a decent price for their produce, but the Beeb is adamant that enough's enough, as the role leaves Alagiah conflicted. So Jeremy Clarkson can take the Murdoch shilling for penning articles in the Sunday Times. John Humphrys can write commentaries for YouGov. But Alagiah can't be a figurehead for a movement connecting British shoppers with farmers in the developing world.[12]

Indeed, the BBC appears to be selective as to which of its staff's external affiliations it opposes. Jeremy Paxman is a fellow of the British American Project (BAP), which he says is: "A marvellous way of meeting a varied cross-section of transatlantic friends."[13]

Blogger Gabriele Zamparini challenged Paxman:

Dear Jeremy Paxman,
I was delighted to read your endorsement of the British-American Project, “A marvellous way of meeting a varied cross-section of transatlantic friends.” Among those “friends”, there are Paul Wolfowitz and Diana Negroponte (John Negroponte’s wife) and among the “friends’ supporters” there are Citigroup, BP, Vodafone, US Embassy, JP Morgan and many others.
I just wanted to congratulate you and the BBC for the remarkable efforts to keep your work objective and balanced; it must not be easy with so many “friends”. As a licence-fee payer I am really happy to know my money is so well used and thank you for enlarging my “friends” circle. I will now watch BBC News with a much more friendly attitude.[14]

John Pilger has written:

The BAP rarely gets publicity, which may have something to do with the high proportion of journalists who are alumni. Prominent BAP journalists are David Lipsey, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, and assorted Murdochites. The BBC is well represented. On the popular Today program, James Naughtie, whose broadcasting has long reflected his own transatlantic interests, has been an alumnus since 1989. Today's newest voice, Evan Davis, formerly the BBC's zealous economics editor, is a member. And at the top of the BAP Web site home page is a photograph of the famous BBC broadcaster Jeremy Paxman and his endorsement. "A marvelous way of meeting a varied cross-section of transatlantic friends," says he.[15]

Affiliations

Notes

  1. BBC website: About the BBC - What is the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/purpose/what.shtml accessdate=2008-06-14
  2. Pharr, Susan, Krauss, Ellis (eds.) Media and Politics in Japan 1996 University of Hawaii Press |ISBN 0824817613 p.5
  3. Financial Times website: Encouraging information sharing http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=Encouraging+information+sharing&y=4&aje=true&x=16&id=060124008533&ct=0&nclick_check=1 accessdate=2008-05-02}}
  4. BBC History - The BBC takes to the Airwaves http://news.bbc.co.uk/aboutbbcnews/spl/hi/history/html/default.stm accessdate=2007-07-19
  5. BBC website: About the BBC - Purpose and values http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/purpose/ accessdate=2006-07-06
  6. BBC Royal Charter and Agreement Charter accessdate=2007-01-03
  7. C. Stuart (ed.) The Reith Diaries (1975)
  8. cited in Michael Gurevitch, Culture, Society, and the Media (Routledge, 1982) p.302
  9. The Invisible Government, John Pilger, Information Clearing House, Speech delivered at the Chicago Socialism 2007 Conference on Saturday June 16 2007
  10. Tony Benn, Free Radical: New Century Essays (Continuum, 2003) p.54
  11. About the BBC – Executive Board Biographies http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/running/executive/biographies.shtml, BBC accessdate = 2007-03-11
  12. Hugh Muir, Diary: Good works are all very well, George, but we're nervous. Can't you just read the news?, The Guardian, 23 July 2009, accessed 26 July 2009
  13. What fellows say about BAP, BAP website, accessed 26 July 2009
  14. BBC's Jeremy Paxman and the British-American Project, The Cat's Blog, 17 December 2007, accessed 26 July 2009
  15. John Pilger, The Values We Share, Antiwar.com, 17 Dec 2007, accessed 26 July 2009