Theme: Society & Culture | Content Type: Journal article

‘It's the Programmes, Stupid’

Rosaleen Hughes and Pat Younge

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Nicolas J Leclercq

| 1 min read

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is an eco-system where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The BBC is the cornerstone, but ITV, C4, C5 and independent production companies also play a crucial part. The essence of PSB lies in the values which underpin the content, ranging from popular sport and light entertainment to more niche minority strands. The BBC licence fee generates considerable value for the British economy throughout the nations and regions of the UK. This is multiplied by the intellectual property framework for independent production companies. The system is now under threat from the financial squeeze on the BBC licence fee, failure to deliver ‘due prominence’ to commercial PSBs, new technology and changing patterns of consumption. It is essential that a broad range of programmes remain freely available to avoid the cultural, social and political divisions of a two-tier system of national broadcasting.

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  • PHOTO_2.jpeg

    Rosaleen Hughes

    Rosaleen Hughes is a former BBC TV producer and a member of the British Broadcasting Challenge.

    Articles by Rosaleen Hughes
  • Screenshot_2024-04-30_at_11-54-22_Pat_Younge_The_Guardian.png

    Pat Younge

    Pat Younge is an independent producer and former chief creative officer of BBC Television. He chairs the British Broadcasting Challenge, which promotes public discussion about UK public service broadcasting.

    Articles by Pat Younge
Volume 96, Issue 2

Latest Journal Issue

Volume 96, Issue 2

This issue features a collection titled 'Governing from the Centre Left' edited by Deborah Mabbett and Peter Sloman. In this collection, authors including Claire Ainsley, Jörg Michael Dostal and Eunice Goes examine how centre-left governments in North America, Australasia, and Western Europe have dealt with recent global pressures, and consider what lessons the UK Labour government should learn from its overseas counterparts. Other articles include a commentary by Ben Jackson titled 'Poverty and the Labour Party'; John Connolly, Matthew Flinders and David Judge on 'How Not to Deliver Policies: Lessons in Undeliverability from the Conservative Governments of 2019–2024'; Stewart Lansley on 'Wealth Accumulation: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'; and Coree Brown Swan, Paul Anderson, and Judith Sijstermans on 'Politics and the Pandemic: The UK Covid-19 Inquiry and Devolution'. A selection of book reviews feature Victoria Brittain's review of 'Palestinian Refugee Women from Syria to Jordan, Decolonizing the Geopolitics of Displacement' by Afaf Jabiri, and Anna Coote's review of 'The Care Dilemma: Caring Enough in the Age of Sex Equality', by David Goodhart.

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