ACCORDING TO AN ICM/Telegraph poll, 70 per cent of
licence fee payers believe the licence tax should be either done away with or
it should be reduced - 49 per cent said it should be abandoned, while 21 per
cent said they wanted it reduced.
The
poll also suggested wide support for developing alternative sources of income
for the corporation such as advertising, while a mere one in 10 voters supported
an increase in line with inflation in 2016, when the BBC Charter is next
rewritten by ministers.
The
poll's findings could of course represent the public's febrile mood in the age
of austerity, after the increases in utility bills. But the BBC should not be
allowed to continue taxing the public: and I think austerity has caused a major
rethink among the licence payers…I certainly hope so; for such a rethink is
much needed.
Of
course the recent scandals have not helped the BBC's image; but some of those
scandals can be attributed to the culture within all such state funded
institution like the BBC. The BBC has a guaranteed income (even if it is
presently frozen) of £3.5 billion. It does not have to compete in the market
place like every other broadcaster - it just sits and waits for the incessant
kerr-chinging that brings them the guaranteed riches to overpay their so-called
stars; and reward managers who have failed with generous six and seven figure
golden handshakes.
If
this poll's findings truly represent the views of the people, then this
antiquated, and almost socialistic institution (both in its finance and bias)
may have to compete in the future for viewers- and why not? Why should the
British people have to cough up £145 per year in order merely to own a
television set?
For
too long has the modern BBC paraded the sentimental 'Auntie' card before the
licence payer. It has long regarded itself as a much loved institution; and the
British people bought into the BBC's
claim to be the greatest and most respected broadcaster in the world; but
this myth has never been challenged by the market place.
The
BBC would never countenance putting such a boast to the test. They have and
will fight tooth- and- nail to hang on to the public's yearly pot of gold. They
fear the market place: they fear that their arrogant boasts will come to
nothing in the competitive world, of which the BBC is not a part.
THE ICM POLL has been a tonic. Yet I fear that,
despite the will of the people, there are powerful competitive forces in the
media world that would oppose the BBC's introduction into the real world of
competition - including many of the so-called 'Tories'. The BBC has as many
friends among its competitive enemies as it does among the Right-wing Tories.
ITV,
and Channel Four [1],
who depend (along with countless lesser channels) on advertising, would not
welcome such a strong competitor into
the private sector and would therefore support the status quo. Sky television,
on the other hand welcomes market competition. When Rupert Murdock created the
Sky channel, many liberals dammed him. He would dumb down television. The
liberals believed Mr Murdock to be a reactionary Right-wing business man
seeking only profit, and playing to the lowest common denominator.
But
not for the first time; the liberal hegemony were proved wrong. Sky television
surpasses the BBC in (unbiased) news; and is unrivalled by the BBC in sport and
drama. In seeking a profit, Murdock will accommodate all tastes and needs. Just
look at the available Sky channels which caters for all needs. Sky Arts, drama,
and sport are among countless other Sky channels which are currently superior
to anything the BBC can muster on £3.5 billion a year. Sky would welcome any
commercial challenge from the BBC: but the BBC are set in their ways and prefer
their own myths about themselves rather than face the realities of competition.
THE BBC will no doubt dismiss the ICM poll with all
the arrogance and manner of an 18th century fop who believes in the
in the Divine Right of Kings to rule - for the BBC truly believes it should
share the same institutional omnipotence enjoyed by this islands kings in
earlier centuries.
I
would like to say that the licence fee's days are numbered, but the BBC is part
of the liberal establishment, and the liberal establishment will ignore all such
poll findings and fight tooth and nail to keep the licence fee; and however
strong the democratic will is that opposes them, the greater their conceit will
be in opposing the people.
As
was Pravda the mouthpiece of the Soviet communist party; the BBC provides the
same function for the liberal establishment. This dinosaur of an institution
should have been reformed decades ago. Its founder John Reith was refreshingly
open about the aims of the BBC; it was to be a servant of the establishment (at
least the public, or those who could afford a television set shared Reith's
enthusiasm). The establishment then was thoroughly conservative (if only small
'c'); but these were the formative years, and its traditional values would have
carried a resonance with the vast majority of the British people.
Reith
was Director General of the BBC for 11
years between 1927 and 1938. Today the liberals would argue that he imposed his conservative values on the
BBC. Which was true; but the majority of the British people shared those values
at the time[2],
which no doubt added to the BBC's popularity - unlike today where its liberal
ethos is at odds with the ordinary licence fee payer, if this poll is to be
believed; which it should be.
Sooner
or later (preferably sooner) the BBC will go the way of Concord if it does not
adapt. It will become another failed folly of the state like nationalisation. I
am afraid the BBC has a drug addicts need for tax payer's money, but unlike the
drug addict, there is no help available to them. In fact the opposite is the
case; their addiction is being intravenously supplied by the taxpayer via the
politicians.
Free
the BBC from the incessant criticism from politicians whenever they feel
themselves ill-treated. The BBC must be put beyond the reach of politicians and
enter a new dawn without political interference.
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