One true voice

‘The BBC is a part of public space because the public themselves have put it there,’ suggests the BBC’s DG, Mark Thompson, at the beginning of the report which is recommending, among other things, that Radio 6 Music and the Asian Network be shut down.

‘The BBC is a part of public space because the public themselves have put it there,’ suggests the BBC’s DG, Mark Thompson, at the beginning of the report which is recommending, among other things, that Radio 6 Music and the Asian Network be shut down. The report is all about this virtual concept, ‘the public space’, and claims that it’s an ‘open and enriching experience’, and that ‘in public space, everyone’s as important and valuable as everyone else’. At the end of the report, in a section headed ‘BBC behaviours’, it promises, ‘We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best’, as if what we need from the BBC is a lesson in good neighbourliness expressed with the straightforward vocabulary of a primary school’s motto encouraging good behaviour among its pupils.

The report (which can be found on the BBC website under ‘BBC Trust’ and then ‘Strategic Review’) is worth taking a look at, not because of what it says but for the language it uses to say it, which veers from this weirdly simplistic verbiage to the most high-falutin jargon. I really can’t decide whether we should be bothered or not about the suggested demise of either Radio 6 Music or the Asian Network, although the latter, which I’ve been dipping into over the weekend, can hardly be said to be fulfilling its stated objectives to provide ‘high-quality news and discussion’ or to help ‘British Asians connect with their cultural and linguistic roots’.