Waste of the day

21 November 2009

Reading the BBC Trust’s 65-page report justifying the exclusion of atheists and humanist commentary from Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, a two-minute religious slot whose main purpose is to persuade a recalcitrant nation to get out of bed, drives home the point that BBC bureaucracy is now beyond redemption.

Having been reprimanded by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom for a clutch of on-air errors, this report is just the most recent evidence that the Corporation is now form-filling when it should be programme-making. At times it is as if the viewers are receiving a service that incorporates all that is undesirable: a costly administration unable to stop the broadcasting of abuse but successfully stifling genuine creativity.

Programme-makers have already protested: Stephen Poliakoff has stated that the BBC is suffering a ‘crisis of confidence’, presided over by a clutch of ‘Kafkaesque committees’. Their dramatists have even been sent to learn about ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’.

Such absurdity can only be stemmed by a common-sense approach to the regulations. One of those responsible for this is Paul Smith who, following the infamous Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone-call to Andrew Sachs, was promoted to the role of Head of Editorial Standards in Audio and Music at a salary of £110,000. This week we discovered that, between 1985 and 1987, Mr Smith operated a puppet named ‘Gordon the Gopher’ on BBC children’s television.

The comparison of ‘compliance officer’ and ‘puppet master’ will be one the likes of Poliakoff will readily draw, but Mr Smith should not be scorned — his job is vital. If he, and his colleagues in BBC television fail to replace 65-page reports with a little common sense, the corporation will not survive. And licence fee payers will be able to update the adage ‘pay peanuts — get monkeys’ to ‘pay £110,000 — get a gopher’.

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