BBC & Its Public

Work for the BBC closely resembles a love affair with an elephant: the pleasure is nil, the danger of being crushed to pieces extreme, and in any case no results can be expected for nine years.*

This characterization of the British Broadcasting Corp. appeared in Claud Cockburn's leftist London newsletter, The Week. British radio listeners might quarrel with it but few of them would deny that something ought to be done about civil-servantish BBC. Last week, as the time for renewal of BBC's Government charter neared, British voices spoke up and said so. BBC countered with what amounted to a top-drawer shakeup.

BBC listeners had special reasons for speaking up. Unlike Americans, who get their radio programs free, over nine million British radio owners pay ten shillings apiece yearly for the privilege of listening to their only broadcasting system. For their money they get the product of a semi-government monopoly which England's pinko New Statesman & Nation terms "the usual British compromise between incompatibles." Constitutionally attached to the office of the Minister of Information--by a clause so elastic that the Minister can always disclaim control of BBC--BBC is theoretically not controlled by the Government. It is theoretically not a private monopoly, either, but a public corporation chartered by Parliament. BBC can therefore, theoretically, avoid the fixed opinion of public, the commercialization of private monopolies. The result of this compromise between white and black is occasionally brilliant, usually a monotonous grey.

Timid Monopoly. Minister of Information Brendan Bracken remarked on this depressing shade recently in the House of Commons, invited "a complete examination of the whole setup of the BBC" before renewing its charter. Commons adjourned without committing itself, but the solid, thoughtful Economist snapped up Bracken's invitation. Said the Economist:

"The great vice of the BBC is timidity. The BBC is a monopoly, but it is in the opposite position to the traditional monopolist. It cannot defy the public; just because it is fair game for everybody, it cannot afford to offend anyone. . . . The BBC in fact, exhibits all the vices that might be expected from a state-run cultural institution. It should not be blamed; it is doing its best. . . .

"If the test of a broadcasting system is the excellence of its programs, the prescription should be not more public control, but less. . . . To continue with the present system would be to condemn broadcasting to the fate that would have attended the press if, from its birth, it had been nationalized, or the stage if there had never been more than two or three state theaters, or art if the only commissions were those to be obtained from public bodies. There will be no excellence with out competition. . . . The virtues of American broadcasting are not due to its advertising sponsorship. . .so much as to the fact of competition. . . ."

New Job, New Man. Although this criticism undoubtedly earned hear-hears from many bored BBC listeners, nothing drastic was likely to happen until after the war. Nevertheless, something did happen. It was not the appointment of hard-driving Robert Foot to be sole director and chief executive officer of BBC (he had been joint director with Sir Cecil Graves until the latter's retirement). It was the creation of the new office of Editor in Chief of BBC and the man chosen to fill it.

He is one of England's best newsmen; forthright William John Haley, joint managing director of the Manchester Guardian and Evening News, and a director of Reuters, top British news agency.

Readers from Wales to the Cumberland lake district have squirmed under the erudite, fervently democratic editorializing of Haley, but they have continued to read him. He fought Munich appeasement harder than any editor in England. His stubborn stand ultimately resulted in a vastly increased circulation. He has been loudly in favor of giving the public all war news, "however unpalatable," which does not aid the enemy.

A cunning, left-handed chess, cricket and table tennis player, Haley is scheduled to assume his BBC office in a month's time. His power--over the entire spoken output of BBC--is awesome, but many BBC critics think he may be the answer to their longtime plea for a knowing, public-minded editorial director.

* An exaggeration. The average gestation period of an elephant is roughly 18 months.

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