Public service media in the United Kingdom: A strong public sector with an uncertain future
Public service media in the United Kingdom: A strong public sector with an uncertain future

Summary/Abstract: The current popularity of both radio and television services in the United Kingdom which are run on a not-for-profit basis, be they operated by the BBC or to a much lesser extent by the state-owned Channel 4, attests to the strength of public service broadcasting there. Largely – as this article seeks to explain – the strengths of the BBC and the influence of the public service ethos even in the way mainstream private-sector broadcasting, especially television, is regulated, can be attributed to the importance placed upon public service media right from the 1920s. Even in this pluralistic, multi-platform, age of media proliferation, the effects can be seen of the early establishment of clear objectives and standards for the sector by its founders, which have been largely maintained by their successors. There have been many pressures on the BBC and its supporters in public life to cede territory to the commercial sector, but although change has in some respects been inevitable, the corporation’s funding model and constitution have served the population well in bolstering the BBC against such attacks on its ability to function as an important bulwark of quality broadcasting and freedom of expression in democratic society. This is not merely a matter of territory, though, of spectrum allocation and the distribution of resources. It is also about public perceptions of the BBC and its output, the trust it enjoys among its audiences and the resultant brand loyalty upon which it ultimately depends and which is firmly rooted in quality and inclusiveness. This public sector ethos has, however, almost inevitably been weakened since the 1920s, as increasingly strident voices have lobbied for greater opportunities for the private sector to generate as much profit as possible from broadcasting have gained greater traction at certain critical points in the history of broadcasting, as is now also the case in 2016.

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