Save 6Music!!!!

The BBC is too big. It has become too bloated, unwieldy, too powerful and needs to be trimmed.
We know this because the government says so, because the opposition says so, because this is what we read in the newspapers. We know this because of an impassioned speech given at the Edinburgh International Television festival last year; because of reports published by the Commons media select committee and the Centre for Policy Studies.
The latter report called for the corporation to be "trimmed back", while the former also proposed a smaller BBC. And to quote from the Edinburgh speech:

"The corporation is incapable of distinguishing between what is good for it, and what is good for the country.... Funded by a hypothecated tax, the BBC feels empowered to offer something for everyone, even in areas well served by the market. The scope of its activities and ambitions is chilling....

Dumping free, state-sponsored news on the market makes it incredibly difficult for journalism to flourish on the internet. Yet it is essential for the future of independent journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it...We seem to have decided to let independence and plurality wither. To let the BBC throttle the news market, and get bigger to compensate." (1)

The accusation that the BBC is state-sponsored is meant to suggest a news bias, like the propaganda machine of a dictatorship. The suggestion that it has expansionist ambitions that are "chilling" suggests a sinister media monopoly, a Ministry of Truth, a Leviathan.

But...

The name of the person who gave this speech was James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, and chairman of News Corporation Europe and Asia. News Corp is the world's second largest media conglomerate. It owns News International, a British newspaper publisher, which publishes the Times, Sunday Times, The Sun and The News of the World. Its list of holdings also includes: the publisher HarperCollins, the TLS, Dow Jones and Company, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, 20th Century Fox, Fox News, BSkyB, National Geographic (TV), MySpace, and PhotoBucket. (2)



As well as owning Sky TV, Rupert Murdoch is also a near 18% shareholder of rival ITV.
So, his son's attack on the BBC's 'chilling' expansionism seem a little disingenuous.
As does the insinuation of bias in its news coverage - Fox News remember has Sarah Palin on its payroll.



The Murdochs have a vested interest in the BBC being shrunk down to size. They have reasons for wanting regulation to prevent its news being freely accessible on the internet, because they want people to buy their newspapers, and they want to charge for their papers' online content.

And what about the two above-mentioned reports who each backed up several of Murdoch's concerns?
The Commons media select committee is chaired by Tory MP John Whittingdale, who appointed himself two specialist advisors called Ray Gallagher (ex director of public affairs at...BSkyB) and Martin Le Jeune (ex head of public affairs at BSkyB and current head of consultancy firm whose clients include Sky). It was Le Jeune who published the report for the Centre for Policy Studies and who acted as "specialist advisor" on the media select committe's report. (Private Eye, 1251)

So when The Sun attacks the BBC for scheduling Strictly Come Dancing to coincide with X Factor, there are reasons for this.(Private Eye, 1246) Just as there are reasons for it failing to report on ex-Conservative party chief executive being appointed chairman of ITV. (PE 1250)
Equally, there are reasons why the Times
reports that "At least 37 BBC execs earn more than the PM...The revelations put pressure on the Tories to spell out how they would restrain pay in the corporation", whilst failing to mention that Sky's chief exec can take home almost treble what the BBC director general gets paid, and more than 10 times the PM's salary. (PE, 1250)

Murdoch has instructed all of his newspapers to back David Cameron's campaign in the forthcoming election and, should the Tories be successful, he is going to want the favour returned.

Mark Thompson knows the Tories are coming and seems to be trying to preempt any attack from the new government (4). To do this he is suggesting the BBC "put quality first" presumably over quantity. One would have thought, therefore, that the TV and radio stations who are safest would be those who put their emphasis on the quality of their output, rather than pandering to the highest audience figures.

6 Music's motto was "playing the music that matters". Its emphasis is not on new music, MOR music, or music that necessarily panders to a particular age range or ethnic group. It plays good music of all genres from the past five decades and, as such, is a refreshing antidote to the endless tsunami of overproduced, auto-tuned hip-slop and reality TV sewage that floods the TV music channels, the commercial radio stations and Radio 1.

And don't talk to me about Radio 2. I never want to have my dial tuned to a station where I might accidentally catch Steve Wright dedicating a Sting dirge to somebody's 40th wedding anniversary. Ever. (3)

There are cuts the BBC could, and perhaps should, make to help control the quality of its output and defend itself from a future Tory attack. But 6Music is not a news channel, does not expose dodgy dossiers, and is not in direct competition with any Murdoch-backed TV or radio station I can think of. Its emphasis is on playing quality modern music but, as a new digital-only station that does not pander to the highest possible audience, it can be used as a political sacrifice. The BBC does NOT put quality first, which is why Chris Moyles gets the breakfast show and Peel was forced further and further into the middle of the night.

So - take up arms and advance to the BBC online fora, join the Facebook groups, sign the petitions, tune in to 6 music, write to the BBC Trust. Because, since the untimely demise of the late, great John Peel, where else am I going to be able to listen to a song like this on a national radio station?



(And if you think this is badly written toss, relying too heavily on other journalists, with sources not even paraphrased on occasion, then welcome to the de-regulated world of media pluralism)

PS One final article I have just come across.

PPS Finally, I find an excuse to post The Fall!!!