This week there has been a lot of debate about cuts that the BBC face mainly due to the unique way in which it is funded. The Murdoch media seem to want rid of the BBC sighting reasons of competition. This could be an extremely persuasive argument but for the fact that I am choosing to stick my fingers in my ears for two reasons: One, my extremely limited understanding of economics and two, my belief that the Great British public occasionally need to be treated like a hyperactive toddler reaching for a fist full of lolly pops. Let loose in the sweet shop I believe that commercial TV would quickly pander to the lowest common denominator leaving us with hundreds of channels chock full of reality TV reruns and sham docu-soaps.
The BBC does things that no other commercial broadcaster would do. Why wouldn't any other broadcaster do these things? Simple, they would lose money. I am talking about programs that are either so extortionately expensive to make or programs that cater to such a specialist audience that no advertiser would touch it with a sterilised government issued socialist barge poll. Here are five things that I love about the BBC and you should too.
1. News Coverage at home and abroad.
The news coverage provided by the BBC is world famous for its quality and reliability. There is no reason that commercial news channels shouldn't be able to match this quality but I am always far more suspicious of hidden agenda's buried within the stories of ITN and SKY. That being said the BBC isn't exactly a bastion of unbiased opinion. It does sometimes lean shamelessly to the left and its science reporting on magazine style news shows is often as suspect as its competitors but overall there is a quality about the BBC not replicated elsewhere. To sum up its news coverage I would simply say “I Trust The BBC.”
2. It's British
We British like to think of ourselves as being a complicated bunch, in fact we like to flatter ourselves into thinking that we are one of the most complicated nations on earth. This is unquestionably untrue and smacks of an anti-Copurnicus attitude steaming from times of Empire. However, untrue as it may be this is the spirit of our nation and the BBC captures it perfectly with Snog Marry Avoid on BBC3, QI on BBC 2, Eastenders on BBC 1 Behind the Scenes at the Museum on BBC 4 and Pincidh Dincidh Du on BBC Alba. the last of these channels producing programming that is only comprehensible to 0.5% of 61 million people. Even an advertiser that specialises in producing whiskey filtered through haggis flavoured kilts wouldn't support BBC Alba yet it exists. Because of the way that the BBC is funded it can cater to these audiences that would otherwise be totally neglected.
3. Live Music Programming
When the BBC record a live band it sounds amazing. Always and without exception. Years of know how, quality equipment and the best engineers have made television and radio broadcasts of live music on the BBC simply the best.
4. Documentaries
The BBC's nature and science documentaries are exported all over the world because they are brilliant. The BBC would be able to continue its flagship natural history documentaries due to these sales even if funding was cut entirely. What they wouldn't be able to do would be to continue in the production of the niche and obscure documentaries that just this week have covered subjects as diverse as quantum physics, the social history of the sitcom, an in-depth look at the process of putting on a ballet, the beauty of diagrams, the history of the working classes, medieval religious architecture the blues and farming to name just a few. The BBC gives us British the option to be better educated and expand our horizon and our sphere of knowledge to places that only a university education might otherwise have taken us.
5. Radio Four
It's mental. Turn it on right now. I bet you learn something. Or hear something odd or something funny or engaging or incomprehensible. Go on do it. Start listening to it in your car and the quality of your chat will improve by at least 50% that isn't an opinion that is a cold hard untested scientific fact.
I'm on holiday next week but your normal program of low brow poo slinging will resume shortly.
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