The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
BBC chopping block
: Instapundit sends us to a report saying hat in the wake of the BBC’s many scandals, the British government is thinking of breaking up the company into regional entities.
That’s the wrong way to do it, I say.
The BBC should be spun off to the public. Sell stock in it. Take the money to pay for worthy government programs. Accept advertising to support the service and get rid of the BBC tax. Let the market rule. That’s what should happen to the BBC.
What a capitalist idea. Were Mrs. Thatcher still in power it might see the light of day.
In terms of content, if not structure and management, BBC inside the UK is already rather regionalized. Not sure how breaking it up and privatizing the pieces will improve things, though. It’d cause a first class stink; sure would be fun to watch.
It’s the BBC World Service that’s familiar to most Americans and other non-Brits. A reform of BBC would not necessarily impact it.
Ye gods, why would you want to destroy a public broadcast system that produces good content? Imagine the BBC follows the PBS model. The news would turn into “NewsHour w/ Jim Lehrer.”
No, thank you.
billg is wrong about the World Service. If the rest of the BBC was parcelled up and sold off, the isolated World Service would look just like another propaganda channel. It would immediately lose credibility.
Judging from what I hear every day, the World Service’s North American stream is already “another propanganda channel”.
I don’t trust the BBC any more. Something is amiss at Bush House.