Post by Teddy Bear on May 1, 2008 17:33:41 GMT
If you're struck by the 'dumbing down' of society nowadays, then David Attenborough hits the nail on the head as to part of the cause for it.
David Attenborough criticises BBC schedule
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:23PM BST 01/05/2008
Sir David Attenborough, one of the BBC’s longest-serving presenters, criticised the corporation last night for “clogging up” its schedules with ratings-winning programmes about gardening and celebrity chefs.
The wildlife documentary maker, whose career has spanned more than 50 years, said it was “a scandal” that there appeared to be no longer a space in the schedules for extended series about history, science, music and the arts.
In a speech about public service broadcasting, Sir David, 81, said the BBC was established as a pubic service broadcaster which measured its success “not only by its audience size but by the range of its schedule”.
But in recent years he said that he had become disappointed with the level of identikit programmes that were flooding both the BBC1 and BBC2 schedules at the expense of more serious programming.
“There are moments when I wonder - moments when its [the BBC’s] two senior networks, first set up as a partnership, schedule simultaneously programmes of identical character, thereby contradicting the very reason that the BBC was given a second network,” he told an audience in London.
“Then there are times when both BBC1 and BBC2, intoxicated by the sudden popularity of a programme genre, have allowed the genre to proliferate and run rampant through the schedules, with the result that other kinds of programmes are not placed - simply because of lack of space.
“Do we really require so many gardening programmes, make-over programmes or celebrity chefs? Is it not a scandal in this day and age, that there seems to be no place for continuing series of programmes about science or serious music or thoughtful in-depth interviews with people other than politicians.”
He told the audience of broadcasters and industry figures that he was “very, very sad” about the demise of programmes such as Tomorrow’s World, which gave viewers a basic understanding of science.
Sir David’s speech was in response to proposals about the future of public service programmes such as children’s television and regional news, which were put forward by Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, last month.
Among its proposals was “top slicing”, which would see the corporation sharing the licence fee with commercial broadcasters to fund unprofitable shows such as Channel 4 News and Dispatches.
Sir David spoke out against a contested licence fee, saying it would lead to commercial broadcasters taking the money but pushing public service programmes to the margins of the schedules.
“Unless there are regulations to stop it, public service broadcasting programmes will inevitably be pushed out of peak hours and into out-of-the-way corners of the schedule when fewer people will want to watch them,” he said.
“So the odds are stacked against them increasing their audience. They become the station’s pariah, retained under sufferance, tucked away, unloved, where they do least harm to the network’s income.”
Asked if the licence fee was sustainable in a multi-channel age where an increasing number of people are watching television on their computers, he compared the issue with funding swimming baths and libraries.
He said it was a measure of “a civilized society” when the majority of people pay for a variety of public facilities.
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:23PM BST 01/05/2008
Sir David Attenborough, one of the BBC’s longest-serving presenters, criticised the corporation last night for “clogging up” its schedules with ratings-winning programmes about gardening and celebrity chefs.
The wildlife documentary maker, whose career has spanned more than 50 years, said it was “a scandal” that there appeared to be no longer a space in the schedules for extended series about history, science, music and the arts.
In a speech about public service broadcasting, Sir David, 81, said the BBC was established as a pubic service broadcaster which measured its success “not only by its audience size but by the range of its schedule”.
But in recent years he said that he had become disappointed with the level of identikit programmes that were flooding both the BBC1 and BBC2 schedules at the expense of more serious programming.
“There are moments when I wonder - moments when its [the BBC’s] two senior networks, first set up as a partnership, schedule simultaneously programmes of identical character, thereby contradicting the very reason that the BBC was given a second network,” he told an audience in London.
“Then there are times when both BBC1 and BBC2, intoxicated by the sudden popularity of a programme genre, have allowed the genre to proliferate and run rampant through the schedules, with the result that other kinds of programmes are not placed - simply because of lack of space.
“Do we really require so many gardening programmes, make-over programmes or celebrity chefs? Is it not a scandal in this day and age, that there seems to be no place for continuing series of programmes about science or serious music or thoughtful in-depth interviews with people other than politicians.”
He told the audience of broadcasters and industry figures that he was “very, very sad” about the demise of programmes such as Tomorrow’s World, which gave viewers a basic understanding of science.
Sir David’s speech was in response to proposals about the future of public service programmes such as children’s television and regional news, which were put forward by Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, last month.
Among its proposals was “top slicing”, which would see the corporation sharing the licence fee with commercial broadcasters to fund unprofitable shows such as Channel 4 News and Dispatches.
Sir David spoke out against a contested licence fee, saying it would lead to commercial broadcasters taking the money but pushing public service programmes to the margins of the schedules.
“Unless there are regulations to stop it, public service broadcasting programmes will inevitably be pushed out of peak hours and into out-of-the-way corners of the schedule when fewer people will want to watch them,” he said.
“So the odds are stacked against them increasing their audience. They become the station’s pariah, retained under sufferance, tucked away, unloved, where they do least harm to the network’s income.”
Asked if the licence fee was sustainable in a multi-channel age where an increasing number of people are watching television on their computers, he compared the issue with funding swimming baths and libraries.
He said it was a measure of “a civilized society” when the majority of people pay for a variety of public facilities.