In a 2007 report on the future of public service broadcasting, Richard Berry states:
“We no longer have an environment with a small number of providers – the internet and digital television/radio represent near-limitless forums for broadcasting ‘content,’ whether news, entertainment, sport, or anything else, and competition for audiences is much more intense.”
This has never been more true than now. Each of the public service broadcasters has its own online service where audiences can watch content whenever they like. The BBC has BBC iplayer, ITV has ITV player, Channel 4 has 4OD and five has five on demand.
Audiences are increasingly taking advantage of such digital media to access public service content. They have much more responsibility for the type of programming they are watching or listening to with this type of selective viewing. The consumer can choose not only what to watch, but when to watch it.
According to Ofcom’s report, almost 90 per cent of British homes have digital television and the majority have broadband. Ofcom’s research shows that the use of the internet to access public service content has grown dramatically since 2003, especially among younger people.
To add to these selective viewing habits, television packages are now offering services such as Sky Plus, which allows the consumer to watch programmes on demand. Such services also give audiences the ability to avoid advertisements as well as sections of the programme that do not interest them.
Where news is concerned, information is available for audiences to access whenever they like with newspaper content published online. New technologies such as internet access on mobile phones allow consumers to receive news headlines wherever they are. However, this still involves the selective process whereby the consumer chooses what sort of news they want to receive.
If left to choice, what would people choose?
You only have to look at the most read news stories on the BBC’s news website to see they are not necessarily the most newsworthy (in the mind of a journalist). There’s a real danger that the availability of public service content on demand, will have the same effect on programming. The quality of the content would deteriorate, in effect dumbing down to meet the demands of the audience.
Can public service broadcasting survive the ‘on demand’ culture we now have in Britain? Not if selective viewing habits continue to be heightened.
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zoegraham
hayleygrainger
rosssatron
camelstu
edjkiernan
Stuart Oates
Hi Hayley,
I think we are ultimately referring to the same issue in our last posts.
If the power and choice is now in the people’s hands – how can the government and broadcasters ensure that they remain educated and informed (whilst also bearing in mind the needs for a multi-national community and ethnic minorities)?
The key must lie in educating people in media literacy, to allow them to navigate this endless choice which could be confusing… or ultimately extremely enriching when used properly!
Without meaning to get philosophical, is it really the governments or the broadcasters responsibility to ensure that people are educated or informed?
In this age of endless choices surely people are going to watch exactly what they want. If that’s Take Me out instead of Dispatches then so be it.
Broadcasters can only do their best to ensure that they are producing good, quality shows. Is it also their responsibility to make sure people watch it?
As for educating people in media literacy, how is this accomplished? Advanced IT classes in schools? Will that require more computers, more specialized teachers? Anytime you enter the realm of education in this courty you’re stepping into a minefield.
I like the idea and think it is necessary. I just don’t see how it can be achieved.
Don’t schools already teach media literacy to some extent? I remember being taught the difference between fact and fiction at a very young age. Like a language, media literacy is something that I think is acquired rather than taught. Kids growing up in the on-demand age will no doubt become media savvy quicker than we did!
Hi Ed,
I think it is as much about a shift in attitude as anything else / learning to have a social conscience younger etc. I agree it is certainly nobody’s responsibility other than the individual’s to ensure that they inform themselves but then the same could be said for teaching or any position of responsibility (which I believe broadcasters do have- for one, they are receiving tax payers money, same as school fees)!
It is a circle- if young people are educated better in media literacy and taught to take responsibility for what they choose to view online then hopefully the future will not just see people watching trashy programs.
I want to compare this long analogy to the French and their young politicised culture but I won’t (as that opens a whole new minefield on the education debate!) I overheard two French schoolboys on the bus (they can’t have been older than 10) discussing the relative merits of hitchcock and another director’s cinematography… But I digress. In fact, I think you have hit the nail on the head- it is very much about education and why should the knowledge and skillsets of broadcasters not also help this realm?
I am thinking partnerships in younger curriculums. It is not just about the technical ability to use computers but the way they consume programs and news online. Teaching you to be your own filter.