Dear Media Policy colleagues,
For our needs in terms of responding to the four Ofcom models, I've spent
the last few days trying to get a clear handle on the 'Arts Council of the
Air' model, ie the setting up of a new commissioning body which would
commission what is called 'public service content' or 'PS genres'. I asked
colleagues in New Zealand, specifically Dr Peter Thompson, who has worked a
great deal on this, for the collective judgement now on the NZ experience
of exactly this model for some years, 'NZ On Air'. Peter replied as
follows, and I hope you'll find, as I did, that his account is extremely
powerful in setting out the real problems that are likely to arise with
this model in the UK: Peter's words follow below.
However, of course, this does not seem to be the model being proposed.
Ofcom's models 3 and 4 speak of 'long-term' contracts and agreements being
awarded competitively by a new funding agency to the commercial PSBs and
other bodies for fulfilling specific briefs and absences in types of
content; this seems to be more like another version of Ofcom's / Ed
Richards's PSP - so perhaps this lesson from NZ is not relevant. However
this idea could easily morph into the 'Arts Council of the Air' and in that
case, the NZ experience becomes very relevant. I just thought it might be
useful to be aware of the pitfalls of the NZ experience, in case it is
resurrected. I hope this is helpful in drawing up a response.
Here are Peter Thompson's words -
'The problem with the NZ On Air model is that, by and large, the system
works very well for the local production industry and it's largely
politically uncontroversial. However the basic problem is that the range of
content it has funded tends to be constrained by the scheduling priorities
of the broadcasters who agree to screen the content it funds; [and this
links to the problem of getting the content that has been commissioned to
be scheduled by the broadcasters at all - quite a lot is not scheduled].
The broadcasters have often asked for funding for programmes that turn out
to be high-rating and therefore commercially viable, and although there is
some good material produced and broadcast, if it's not mass-appeal it gets
relegated to peripheral slots in the schedule or rejected as unattractive.
Here's a way to think about it: If you assume that public service
broadcasting encompasses a full range of programming including all genres
and including quality mass appeal and minority content, and that commercial
broadcasting encompasses only the mass appeal then draw a venn diagram of
the two, then there would be an overlap in the centre, and two distinct
zones that are mutually exclusive- i.e. high quality PSB genres such as
educational docos, investigative journalism and in-depth news and current
affairs on the one hand and the worst tabloid commercial reality tv junk on
the other. NZ On Air has ensured that some of the material in the otherwise
commercial schedules of broadcasters at least qualifies for the centre zone
of higher-quality mass appeal. *But it has not incentivised programming of
the higher-quality lower-appeal public service type.* So it achieves a
positive outcome in many respects, *but in important respects it sells the
wider conception of public service short* - and *the industry gets behind
this model out of self-interest and legitimates an impoverished conception
of public broadcasting.*
The other issues concern complex argument over intellectual property
rights, which has *recently resulted in a very generous deal to the
producers who will enjoy commercial gains from the sell-on of rights of
programmes commissioned with taxpayer money,* problems of evaluating
whether or not a programme extends the range of content beyond the
commercial mainstream, and structural problems of bureaucratic capture by
client interests.' [End of Peter Thompson's words.]
-----
Best wishes,
Georgina.
--
Georgina Born
Professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Music
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences
University of Cambridge
Honorary Professor of Anthropology
University College London
Tel: +44 (0)1223 335063 / 740846
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