Advice for the BBC’s next director-general
by Giles Fraser, UnHerd:
BBC TV is rubbish, says my Moral Maze colleague Tim Stanley in the Telegraph today. In contrast listening figures out last week showed that BBC radio output continues to thrive, with Radio 4 and 5 live growing audiences.
So why not dump BBC TV and the website, I muse to myself? Radio is so obviously the best bit of BBC output, and could easily shoulder the Reithian mission at a fraction of the cost.
[…] After all, the BBC and the Church of England have a great deal in common. They are both nationalised industries; indeed, I would say, both national treasures. Both with a moral mission. Both custodians of culture. Both, apparently, in need of reform. Both obsessed with attracting young people.
My own view is that when the Church starts chasing a younger audience simply as an end in itself it ends up losing sight of its core mission — and that the same is probably true for the BBC. No, concentrate unashamedly on the edification proposed by your founding fathers. Don’t be embarrassed by a commitment to higher culture. And stick to what you do best.
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