Dear all - some of you may have seen this on the main Meccsa list, but some of you may not have seen it. Do support it.
Regards
Máire MD
Máire Messenger Davies PhD, FRSA, MBPsS
Professor of Media Studies
School of Media, Film and Journalism
University of Ulster
Cromore Rd
Coleraine, BT52 1SA
N. Ireland, UK
email: [log in to unmask]
Twitter: @mairemd
New book: 'Star Trek and American Television', by Roberta Pearson and Máire Messsenger Davies, see
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520276222
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From: Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Natalie Fenton [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 August 2015 10:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: BBC Charter Review - Please sign letter
Dear all,
You may have noticed that on Saturday The Independent published a letter regarding the terms of the consultation relating to the Green Paper on the BBC Charter Review signed by 47 academics in the field. This letter is reprinted below. This Charter Review signals the most serious challenge to the purposes and funding of the BBC in a generation. Whatever your views on the future funding, scope and purpose of the BBC, as teachers and researchers in the field we encourage you to make sure your concerns are heard. The Consultation ends on 8th October 2015. We will be submitting this letter, addressed to John Whittingdale, along with the MeCCSA response to the consultation. We would like as many signatories as possible – please consider adding your own below. The more signatures we have the better. PLEASE SIGN THE LETTER here:
http://www.meccsa.org.uk/responses/bbc-charter-review/
Letter to John Whittingdale:
As teachers and researchers in media and journalism, we are surprised and concerned that the terms of the consultation based on the government’s Green Paper on BBC Charter Review are so skewed; they are so preoccupied with an assumed negative impact of the BBC on the commercial media market that they ignore the considerable evidence of the BBC's enormous contribution to the UK's creative industries and to society more generally. The consultation therefore fails to consider the BBC's remit to serve all audiences, irrespective of background or geography, or to acknowledge the host of evidence about the public use, importance, and impact of the services of the BBC.
We fully understand the complexities involved in assessing the performance of the BBC, and are well aware that it has much work to do in representing diverse perspectives and populations. However, the Green Paper seems determined to repeat (without any empirical justification) those criticisms of the BBC that regularly surface in the Murdoch-owned press and similar newspapers. It also seems to bury any notion that UK citizens might be best served by a content provider that produces both popular and minority programmes and which broadcasts them across a range of platforms.
It is clear that the Green Paper's real intent is not to secure a future for a well-funded, genuinely independent and innovative public service provider, but to shrink the BBC in the interests of its commercial competitors. We urge the government to ensure that the Review embraces the widest possible range of independent evidence, and not to put at unnecessary risk an institution that remains internationally regarded as a major British achievement.
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We also encourage you to write to your MP with your concerns – it is quick and easy. Details are on the above website.
You may also be interested in attending the public meeting on TUESDAY 4 AUGUST, 6.30PM AT THE NUJ:
BBC CHARTER REVIEW – AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS THE CONSULTATIONS AND THE LOVE IT OR LOSE IT CAMPAIGN
5th floor, Headland House, 308 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8DP
The BBC is loved for its quality entertainment and documentaries, breadth of news and current affairs coverage, local radio, children's TV and much more. But year-on-year cuts and endless salami slicing since the last licence fee settlement have squarely compromised grassroots programming and journalism.
As we enter the current period of negotiations kicked off by the government's green paper - with the BBC's response to follow in September - we simply cannot sit back and allow an outcome that would lead to any further cuts or a flat-cash settlement. Without a meaningful rise in the licence fee, we may not have a BBC to fight for in five or 10 years’ time. The status quo is not an option.
The meeting is an opportunity to discuss the campaign to protect the BBC, as well as how the new charter should be used to bring in much needed reforms, such as:
* investing in programming, not management layers;
* reflecting the diversity of its licence-fee payers, in front and behind the camera and microphone;
* guaranteeing proper regional news coverage;
* and increasing accountability to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
The meeting is hosted by the NUJ with input from the Media Reform Coalition and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom. We are hoping to connect academics and trade unionists in this initial meeting before the campaign begins in earnest in September.
Please email [log in to unmask] to RSVP.
Natalie Fenton
Chair, MeCCSA
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