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Thompson outlines growing need for strong UK public service broadcasting
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Growing market failure in popular content areas like comedy, drama, learning and children's will make public service broadcasting in the UK more necessary than ever by 2012, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Director-General, Mark Thompson, said today (10 July).
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Speaking to a Westminster audience he said:
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"Market failure in the supply of quality news and current affairs is growing. And it's not just news. Skills and knowledge will be vital if Britain is to succeed in the world of 2012. Yet millions of Britons leave our education system with a deficit which the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ and other PSBs could help address.
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"For the disenfranchised and economically marginalised, market failure isn't a term of art – it's a personal tragedy.
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"News, learning, comedy, drama, children's programmes, documentaries and science; it's the same trend in every developed media market in the world."
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He said commercial media such as Sky News could deliver public value, but they were not obliged to.
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"The claim for PSB – and for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ β€“ is not that it seeks to correct some absolute market failure. It is that it delivers far more public value than the market would on its own. It conditions the media market as a whole, promoting more quality and more choice and encourages creative risk-taking which could not be justified on purely commercial grounds."
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"Public service broadcasting is not a piece of arid theology. It's a passion – a passion which I believe you can see in Planet Earth and hear in Alan Johnston's voice."
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Thompson said Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One – the acid test of popular public service broadcasting – is now more distinctive than it used to be and contrasted schedules from 1962, 1982 and the forthcoming Autumn season.
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"Now, there are 535 minutes of news a week, more news than in any previous era in the channel's history. There is home-grown British drama – 450 minutes, nearly quadruple the 1982 figures, near double the 1962 figure. No US imports in primetime and more specialist factual like Who Do You Think You Are?"
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He said: "Plurality of public service supply in broadcasting really matters not only to drive up quality but to ensure the widest range of voices and talent are heard. All public service broadcasters should be clear about their mission and public purposes. We shouldn't be bound by history and should work together to find solutions to the question of PSB as a whole."
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"In my view it's part of a bigger national debate about what kind of country we want to live in. What kind of quality of life and quality of community we want to enjoy."
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Thompson said the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ needed to change to meet these challenges by becoming more open to criticism, to external views and to the public.
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It should be smaller in scale, increasing productivity and concentrating finite resources on making fewer, better programmes and content for TV, radio and the web.
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ should also work on weaknesses identified in research for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Trust which shows the public wants more innovation, programmes with local relevance and content providing practical skills and learning.
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"The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is already significantly smaller than it was three years ago in terms of headcount," said Thompson.
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"Between now and 2012 the search for greater productivity, for greater value from the licence fee, must go on. We will not be able to afford our own future unless we free up substantial resources from existing commitments."
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He said technology offered opportunities like integrated multi-media production which looked particularly promising in journalism.
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Read full speech:
Delivering Creative Future: The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ in 2012
by Mark Thompson, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Director-General.
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Press Office
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