Monday, January 19, 2009

Oxfam and Polis warn of the death of International news

I have just been reading Oxfam's report on Public sector braodcasting and international news.

Jointly published with IBT and POLIS , it warns


that international coverage is in danger of disappearing from the British TV screen in the next four years unless radical new measures are introduced by public service broadcasters and OFCOM
.

Written by former BBC executive Phil Harding it says

“The lack of creative commitment and the failure to translate promises about international coverage into meaningful actions means that British television is sleepwalking towards a global switch off. From the credit crunch to migration to climate change, understanding the world around us and the forces that shape it has never been more important. The tragedy is that no one denies the importance of international coverage but at the same time seems prepared to do something about it. This report is a wake up call to senior decision makers to act before it is too late.” and introduces a 10 point plan to rectify the situation

1 comment:

Martin Belam said...

I did have one issue with the report. It seemed to be saying that world coverage had been shunted into a digital ghetto, and projected out the collapse of the medium in 4 years time on that basis. But in less than four years time everybody will be switched over to digital, so if all of the BBC's PSB international coverage is on BBC Four it doesn't matter so much, no?