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University of Westminster Harrow Irs Centre Crisis or Renewal? The origins, evolution and future of public service broadcasting 1922 to 1996 jenny Owen Centre for Conmunication and information Studies A thesis submitted to the University of Westminster f or the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Communications September 1996 UNIVERSITYOF WESTMINSTER HARROW IRS CENTRE Introduction: pp i- ix Chapter One: The origins of the public service concept: ppl-15 1.1 Public service as an ethic and an institution 1.2 Public service and the influence of colonial administration 1.3 The ideal of service - duty, obligation and character 1.4 Public service - education for democracy Concluding remarks Chapter Two: Public service and the state: pp16-40 2.1 Individualism versus collectivism 2.2 The development of state intervention in industry 2.3 State development in communications 2.4 Public service and reconstruction Concluding remarks Chapter Three: Public service development in the 19208: the philosophy of public administration and the emergence of public corporations: pp4l-82 3.1 Public service and public administration 3.2 The principles of public service 3.3 The principles of public service broadcasting 3.4 Public service and public corporations 3.5 Public corporations and the public utility trust - questions of accountability and efficiency Concluding remarks Chapter Four: Public service broadcasting and the BBC as a public corporation: pp83-110 4.1 The birth of public service broadcasting 4.2 Broadcasting as a public utility or public corporation 4.3 The BBC and the Post Office - experiments in public ownership Concluding remarks Chapter Five: Public service, public service broadcasting and questions of efficiency: pplll-137 5.1 Efficiency in communications 5.2 National efficiency and imperialism 5.3 Efficiency and public administration 5.4 Efficiency in public services 5.5 Broadcasting and efficiency Concluding remarks Chapter Six: Public service broadcasting and accountability: pp138-170 6.1 Experts and accountability 6.2 The professional social ideal, 'governing institutions, and accountability 6.3 Public service broadcasting and accountability Concluding remarks Conclusion: pp171-188 Bibilography: ppl89-202 Abstract In the 1980s the future of public service broadcasting in Britain was called into doubt. Technological developments in cable, satellite and digital technologies were, it was argued, poised to end the condition known as 'spectrum scarcity'; while the emergence of a neo-liberal Conservative government, pledged to rolling back the frontiers of the state', was of the opinion that the current system of public service broadcasting provision was no longer necessary given the number of broadcasting channels now available; broadcasting, in its view, would increasingly be able to mirror the publishing industry in its structure and future regulation. Critics however, were loathe to accept the argument that technological considerations alone ought to drive broadcasting policy; and two key questions emerged. Firstly, how was public service broadcasting to be defended in a climate increasingly hostile to public service ideals and institutions in general; and secondly, and as a result of the first question, how was public service broadcasting to be understood? This thesis seeks to answer both these questions and argues that in the process of clarifying the nature of public service broadcasting in the past, that solutions for its defence in the future will be found. Public service broadcasting, was not, it will be argued, simply about institutions like the BBC, but evidence of a much broader and widely shared (across the political divides) understanding of the proper role of broadcasting in democratic (at least 1980s) a society until the . In short, public service broadcasting in the past was never simply a response to a set of technological conditions; instead it was forged from a set of political, economic, Administrative and cultural ideas about the nature of society and broadcasting's role in it; and hence its ability to respond to the new conditions of the 1990s and beyond. Introduction In Britain since the early 1980s there has been a widely held perception, shared by politicians, broadcasters and academics, that public service broadcasting is in crisis. It is a crisis which has been linked to two distinct developments; one is technological in origin, the other political. It is argued for example, that we are on the verge of a technological revolution; that the arrival of cable, satellite, digital and interactive technologies will end the condition known as spectrum scarcity, and that in the very near future there will be an infinite number of broadcast channels for the public to enjoy. These technological developments have been closely associated with (but are not directly related to) a political attachment to the idea of deregulation, of rolling-back' the frontiers of the state, of de-monopolisation and privatisation; an attachment at the heart of neo-liberal Conservative policy since Mrs Thatcher swept to power in 1979. This has not been simply a British phenomenon: 'public service is being challenged across the world. Its future is threatened by new technologies and by governments eager to privatise public sector institutionsl(Richard Collins and James Purnell, 1995: 1). As far as public service broadcasting is concerned the argument, championed by Conservative politicians and new media players (particularly the newspaper industry seeking a share of the lucrative broadcasting market) has been that all broadcasting (but in particular public service broadcasting) must adapt to these changed circumstances. In short, that the 'status quo is not an option' (Lord Thompson, 1990: 4) and that as the number of channels available increases, regulation must take into account the fact that the 'sort of regulation sensible for a world of four channels is not likely to be sensible for one where some dozens may be available' (Douglas Hurd, speaking in his capacity as Home Secretary, cited by Lord Thompson, 1990: 6). i These techno-political arguments about the f uture of public service broadcasting were given their clearest expression in 1986 by the Committee on the Financing of the BBC (Peacock Report) [Cmnd 9824]. The committee was set up by Mrs Thatcher who was looking to extend her general philosophy of deregulation to broadcasting; however, it did not reach the conclusion wished for by its political mistress, and in what was a largely 'wide- ranging and thoughtful documentl(Lord Thompson, 1990: 4) concluded that the BBC ought to remain funded by the licence fee (not advertising as had been suggested) for the foreseeable future. if the Peacock report did not come to the right' conclusions, as f ar as the Government was concerned, it was nevertheless, enormously influential. Firstly, its recommendations about commercial television led to a major change in the way commercially- funded broadcasting was financed (by 'franchise auction' following the implemention- of the 1990 Broadcast Act); and secondly, its analysis of public service broadcasting and the impact of new technology, set the tone for the subsequent debate about the nature and future of public service broadcasting. In fact, although the committee 'had some difficulty in obtaining an operational definition, of public service, either from the broadcasters, or indeed from anyone else (Paddy Scannell, 1989a: 135 citing the Peacock relDort, 1986: 130) the report was a serious and methodical attempt to understand (at least from the point of view of policy) what was meant by public service broadcasting and what kind of programmes public service broadcasters ought to deliver. The Peacock committee acknowledged that there were many interpretations of public service broadcasting. For instance, it accepted a distinction between public service as a set of institutional arrangements' and 'public service as a shorthand way of referring to certain characteristic beliefs about the aims ii of such institutions and the methods by which they should pursue them' (Peacock report, 1986: 130). In particular, the report noted that most broadcasters insisted on a duty to inform, educate and entertain, as well as the principle of universality. However, in the final analysis the committee did not develop its definition of public service as a set of 'characteristic beliefs, about public service and public service institutions, and concluded instead, that the best operational definition of public service was 'simply any major modification of purely commercial provision resulting from public policy, (Peacock report, 1986: 130). In short, public service was def ined in a very general way, so that any intervention whatsoever in the operation of the If ree market' could be interpreted as 'public service'. For example, in the committee's view even a full broadcasting market, would require a public service element, such as the 'collective provision of programmes which you and I are willing to support in our capacity as taxpayers and voters, but not directly as consumers' (Peacock relDort, 1986: 131) ; and such an intervention, using the Peacock definition, ought to be considered to be 'public service,. However, this differed from an earlier understanding of what was meant by public service broadcasting which stressed that all of broadcast output ought to be addressed, rather than that which the market could not or would not provide (Annan report, 1977). The findings of the Peacock committee, its stress on the impact of new technology,
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