Using the case study of the BBC economic and business news, Gary Merrill (Goldsmiths, University of London) takes a critical look at the impartiality of the BBC journalism. He observes that journalistic practices tend to ‘follow elite opinion an exclude other credible perspectives’, and calls for the need to include broader sources of opinion, beyond confines of Westminster and the City of London. Read Merrill’s submission in full here

Date: Thursday 3 March, 2-5pm

Venue: The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH 

Confirmed speakers are:

Baroness Helena Kennedy (Barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords)

Stuart Murphy (Formerly Director, Entertainment Channels, Sky)

Jon Thoday (Co-Founder and Managing Director of Avalon Entertainment) 

Andrew Chitty (Member of Ofcom Content Board and Founder of Digital Life Sciences)

Georgina Born: Chair (Oxford University)

Des Freedman (Goldsmiths, University of London)

The aim of the seminar is to present and discuss future normative principles to guide public service media in the context of the digital ecology, as well as to reflect on ideas for the institutional and regulatory design needed to deliver these principles. 

The event is free but places are limited. In order to book your place, please email Vana Goblot (v.goblot@gold.ac.uk) providing a short statement of your interest in the event. 

The submission by the Children’s Media Foundation (www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org) reveals that the public service provision for children is in severe decline. The BBC spent on children’s content and services in 2014 accounts for nearly 97% of total PSB spend in the genre, compared to ITV and Channel 5 who commission almost nothing. The international channels, including Netflix and Amazon commission very little content that focuses on the UK. Read the full submission here.

Jeanette Steemers (Communications and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster) argues that ‘there needs to be a better understanding of the children’s media landscape beyond narrow issues of funding and the future of children’s television production, that also considers the degree to which commercial providers in the online sphere should also be subject to regulation when it comes to children.’ Read the submission in full here

‘No public service broadcaster in the UK offers systematic programming across the full age range of children (0 – 17)’ according to Sonia Livingstone and Claire Local (Media Policy Project, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science). While children engage with all kinds of content on variety of devices, television set remains to be one of the most popular ways of engaging with public service content. Read Livingstone and Local’s submission and key recommendations here