BBC的全球角色

Q4 Social Sciences
Richard Sambrook
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Among the more paternalistic responses, the BBC's World Service launched “The Marshall Plan of the Mind” to help Warsaw Pact countries move from command to free market economies offering innovative programming and media support.1 It was the beginning of globalisation, a more connected and interdependent world and an expansion of democracy. The BBC rose to that moment of optimism and growth, and in the years that followed, exploited the arrival of the internet, digital platforms and the multi-channel world to reach out to global audiences.</p><p>The BBC was established in the shadow of a traumatising world war and a global flu pandemic, followed by economic depression, with the next war on the horizon. The British Empire was breaking up, provoking questions about national identity. From the outset, the new organisation was conceived as a project to consolidate and unify public opinion through the innovative technology of radio.</p><p>Since then, one of the secrets of the BBC's success is its ability to reinvent itself according to the pressures of social, technological or political change. This agility, surprising in what is often seen as a sclerotic institution, has ensured it still occupies a leading position in both the UK and international media markets. For all the frenzied debate about competition, funding or relevance, its reputation and audience reach stand high.</p><p>The start of the World Service was less sure-footed, although not lacking in ambition. An early policy paper suggested the BBC's global purpose should be to “prevent the imperial ideal from being swamped by local nationalism”.4 Today we might substitute globalisation for imperialism and autocracy for local nationalism. To that extent at least, the BBC has always been pro democracy, and pro Western values.</p><p>In 1932, speaking in the World Service's opening broadcast, the director general, Lord Reith, declared that radio was: “an instrument of almost incalculable importance in the social and political life of the community. Its influence will more and more be felt in the daily life of the individual in almost every sphere of human activity, in affairs national and international … The service as a whole is dedicated to the best interests of mankind.”5</p><p>Through the 1930s and into the Second World War, the BBC's editorial values were consolidated, recognising that accurate reporting, set against Germany's propaganda, was more effective. Trust was cemented as the core of the BBC's relationship with its audience.</p><p>The 20th century was an age where democratic values were fought over and, we thought, won. Today we see the return of autocracies around the world, from Moscow, to Beijing, Budapest, Manila, Riyadh, Delhi and more, with an alleged “decline of the West”.7 Indeed, even the political stability of the US – so vital in the last century – is unclear. And as climate change advances, we can expect more political disruption fed by shortages of resources, increased migration and rising inequality.</p><p>Now with a new front opening in Ukraine, attention is once again turning to Europe. But the challenges of the 21st century require more than a simple reprioritising of budgets and services. They need a vision as bold as that of 90 years ago.</p><p>It has adapted well – moving online, moving onto messaging apps, offering digital video, innovating its output and helping users circumvent censorship via the dark web. Yet further reform is inevitable. Investments in new digital operations will have to be balanced against a continual call for budget cuts – even as the case for providing reliable information strengthens.</p><p>Where once it was fully funded by Foreign Office Grant-in-Aid, the Conservative-led coalition government withdrew support in its 2010 spending review as a means of forcing cuts on the domestic BBC. Now the BBC's international news services are a complicated mix of licence fee funding (which some argue protects it from political interference), targeted government funding for specific projects focused on Russia and countering disinformation (about £95 million per year) and commercial funding for English language TV and online news. Cuts to the core BBC licence fee, which has been reduced by 25 per cent in real terms over the past decade,8 now inevitably impact the World Service as well.</p><p>The debate about the future of the BBC tends to be technocratic, focusing on distribution, reach, platforms and partnerships – the ‘how’ of production. The new era deserves a fresh commitment to ‘why’ public broadcasting has much to offer a world facing increasing threats.</p><p>The BBC is seen as a declining power set against the major streaming organisations like Netflix and Amazon. And although its global reputation partly rests on British drama and entertainment, it can never match the commissioning budgets of the streaming giants. But the BBC's soft power – the international influence it brings back to the UK – rests firmly with news, which the digital giants have neither the experience nor appetite to offer.</p><p>The emerging threats of this century provide at least as strong a rationale for the BBC's global services as those of the past. Post Brexit, Britain needs the BBC's international reach more than ever.</p>","PeriodicalId":37420,"journal":{"name":"IPPR Progressive Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/newe.12301","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"The BBC's global role\",\"authors\":\"Richard Sambrook\",\"doi\":\"10.1111/newe.12301\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p>In 1989, as a young BBC news producer, I stood in front of the Berlin Wall watching protestors hack lumps out of it. 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The BBC rose to that moment of optimism and growth, and in the years that followed, exploited the arrival of the internet, digital platforms and the multi-channel world to reach out to global audiences.</p><p>The BBC was established in the shadow of a traumatising world war and a global flu pandemic, followed by economic depression, with the next war on the horizon. The British Empire was breaking up, provoking questions about national identity. From the outset, the new organisation was conceived as a project to consolidate and unify public opinion through the innovative technology of radio.</p><p>Since then, one of the secrets of the BBC's success is its ability to reinvent itself according to the pressures of social, technological or political change. This agility, surprising in what is often seen as a sclerotic institution, has ensured it still occupies a leading position in both the UK and international media markets. For all the frenzied debate about competition, funding or relevance, its reputation and audience reach stand high.</p><p>The start of the World Service was less sure-footed, although not lacking in ambition. An early policy paper suggested the BBC's global purpose should be to “prevent the imperial ideal from being swamped by local nationalism”.4 Today we might substitute globalisation for imperialism and autocracy for local nationalism. To that extent at least, the BBC has always been pro democracy, and pro Western values.</p><p>In 1932, speaking in the World Service's opening broadcast, the director general, Lord Reith, declared that radio was: “an instrument of almost incalculable importance in the social and political life of the community. 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And as climate change advances, we can expect more political disruption fed by shortages of resources, increased migration and rising inequality.</p><p>Now with a new front opening in Ukraine, attention is once again turning to Europe. But the challenges of the 21st century require more than a simple reprioritising of budgets and services. They need a vision as bold as that of 90 years ago.</p><p>It has adapted well – moving online, moving onto messaging apps, offering digital video, innovating its output and helping users circumvent censorship via the dark web. Yet further reform is inevitable. Investments in new digital operations will have to be balanced against a continual call for budget cuts – even as the case for providing reliable information strengthens.</p><p>Where once it was fully funded by Foreign Office Grant-in-Aid, the Conservative-led coalition government withdrew support in its 2010 spending review as a means of forcing cuts on the domestic BBC. 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引用次数: 0

摘要

1989年,作为一名年轻的BBC新闻制作人,我站在柏林墙前,看着抗议者从墙上砍下一块块石块。当时弥漫着一种欢欣鼓舞的情绪——每个人都认识到这是一个历史性的转折点,结束了冷战,开启了一个充满机遇的时代。这是卫星时代的开始——墙上排列着天线,向全世界转播赛事。互联网还没有出现。这似乎是西方长期反对共产主义镇压运动的高潮。英国广播公司对1989年历史性变革的反应与过去50年基本相同——见证、提供准确的信息,并在一个统一的时刻将国内和世界各地的观众联系起来。在更为家长式的回应中,英国广播公司的国际部推出了“思想的马歇尔计划”,以帮助华沙条约国家从计划经济转向自由市场经济,提供创新的节目和媒体支持这是全球化的开端,是一个联系更加紧密、相互依存更加紧密的世界,也是民主的扩张。BBC迎来了乐观和成长的时刻,并在随后的几年里,利用互联网、数字平台和多渠道世界的到来,与全球观众接触。英国广播公司是在一场创伤性的世界大战和全球流感大流行的阴影下建立的,随之而来的是经济萧条,下一场战争即将来临。大英帝国正在解体,引发了关于民族认同的问题。从一开始,这个新组织就被认为是一个通过创新的广播技术来巩固和统一公众舆论的项目。从那时起,BBC成功的秘诀之一就是它能够根据社会、技术或政治变革的压力进行自我改造。这种灵活性,在一个经常被视为僵化的机构中令人惊讶,确保了它在英国和国际媒体市场上仍然占据领先地位。尽管有关于竞争、资金或相关性的激烈辩论,但它的声誉和受众范围都很高。虽然不乏雄心壮志,但国际广播的起步并不那么稳健。一份早期的政策文件建议,BBC的全球目标应该是“防止帝国理想被地方民族主义淹没”今天,我们可以用全球化取代帝国主义,用专制取代地方民族主义。至少在这个程度上,BBC一直是支持民主和亲西方价值观的。1932年,广播电台总干事里斯勋爵在世界广播电台开幕式上发表讲话,宣称广播是:“在社会和政治生活中几乎具有不可估量重要性的工具。”它的影响将越来越多地体现在个人的日常生活中,在人类活动的几乎每一个领域,在国内和国际事务中……这项服务作为一个整体,致力于人类的最大利益。从20世纪30年代到第二次世界大战,BBC的编辑价值观得到了巩固,认识到准确的报道与德国的宣传相抗衡,更为有效。信任被巩固为BBC与观众关系的核心。20世纪是一个民主价值观被争夺的时代,我们认为民主价值观赢得了胜利。今天,我们看到从莫斯科到北京、布达佩斯、马尼拉、利雅得、德里等世界各地专制政权的回归,伴随着所谓的“西方的衰落”事实上,就连美国的政治稳定——这在上个世纪至关重要——也不明朗。随着气候变化的加剧,我们可以预见,资源短缺、移民增加和不平等加剧将加剧政治混乱。现在,随着乌克兰新战线的出现,人们的注意力再次转向欧洲。但是,21世纪的挑战需要的不仅仅是简单地重新确定预算和服务的优先次序。他们需要一个像90年前那样大胆的愿景。它适应得很好——转向在线,转向即时通讯应用,提供数字视频,创新其输出,并帮助用户通过暗网规避审查。然而进一步的改革是不可避免的。对新数字业务的投资将不得不与不断要求削减预算的呼声相平衡——即使提供可靠信息的理由得到加强。英国外交部(Foreign Office)曾全额资助BBC,但保守党领导的联合政府在2010年的支出审查中撤回了对BBC的支持,以此作为迫使英国国内BBC削减开支的一种手段。现在,BBC的国际新闻服务是一个复杂的组合,包括执照费资金(有人认为这可以保护它免受政治干预),针对俄罗斯和打击虚假信息的特定项目的有针对性的政府资金(每年约9500万英镑),以及英语电视和在线新闻的商业资金。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
The BBC's global role

In 1989, as a young BBC news producer, I stood in front of the Berlin Wall watching protestors hack lumps out of it. There was a mood of euphoria – everyone recognised this was an historic turning point, ending the Cold War and opening an era of opportunity. It was the start of the satellite age – with dishes lined up along the wall to broadcast events to the world. The internet had not yet arrived. It seemed the culmination of the West's long campaign against communist repression.

The BBC's response to the historic changes of 1989 was much as it had been for the previous 50 years – to bear witness, to offer accurate information and to connect audiences at home and around the world in a unifying moment. Among the more paternalistic responses, the BBC's World Service launched “The Marshall Plan of the Mind” to help Warsaw Pact countries move from command to free market economies offering innovative programming and media support.1 It was the beginning of globalisation, a more connected and interdependent world and an expansion of democracy. The BBC rose to that moment of optimism and growth, and in the years that followed, exploited the arrival of the internet, digital platforms and the multi-channel world to reach out to global audiences.

The BBC was established in the shadow of a traumatising world war and a global flu pandemic, followed by economic depression, with the next war on the horizon. The British Empire was breaking up, provoking questions about national identity. From the outset, the new organisation was conceived as a project to consolidate and unify public opinion through the innovative technology of radio.

Since then, one of the secrets of the BBC's success is its ability to reinvent itself according to the pressures of social, technological or political change. This agility, surprising in what is often seen as a sclerotic institution, has ensured it still occupies a leading position in both the UK and international media markets. For all the frenzied debate about competition, funding or relevance, its reputation and audience reach stand high.

The start of the World Service was less sure-footed, although not lacking in ambition. An early policy paper suggested the BBC's global purpose should be to “prevent the imperial ideal from being swamped by local nationalism”.4 Today we might substitute globalisation for imperialism and autocracy for local nationalism. To that extent at least, the BBC has always been pro democracy, and pro Western values.

In 1932, speaking in the World Service's opening broadcast, the director general, Lord Reith, declared that radio was: “an instrument of almost incalculable importance in the social and political life of the community. Its influence will more and more be felt in the daily life of the individual in almost every sphere of human activity, in affairs national and international … The service as a whole is dedicated to the best interests of mankind.”5

Through the 1930s and into the Second World War, the BBC's editorial values were consolidated, recognising that accurate reporting, set against Germany's propaganda, was more effective. Trust was cemented as the core of the BBC's relationship with its audience.

The 20th century was an age where democratic values were fought over and, we thought, won. Today we see the return of autocracies around the world, from Moscow, to Beijing, Budapest, Manila, Riyadh, Delhi and more, with an alleged “decline of the West”.7 Indeed, even the political stability of the US – so vital in the last century – is unclear. And as climate change advances, we can expect more political disruption fed by shortages of resources, increased migration and rising inequality.

Now with a new front opening in Ukraine, attention is once again turning to Europe. But the challenges of the 21st century require more than a simple reprioritising of budgets and services. They need a vision as bold as that of 90 years ago.

It has adapted well – moving online, moving onto messaging apps, offering digital video, innovating its output and helping users circumvent censorship via the dark web. Yet further reform is inevitable. Investments in new digital operations will have to be balanced against a continual call for budget cuts – even as the case for providing reliable information strengthens.

Where once it was fully funded by Foreign Office Grant-in-Aid, the Conservative-led coalition government withdrew support in its 2010 spending review as a means of forcing cuts on the domestic BBC. Now the BBC's international news services are a complicated mix of licence fee funding (which some argue protects it from political interference), targeted government funding for specific projects focused on Russia and countering disinformation (about £95 million per year) and commercial funding for English language TV and online news. Cuts to the core BBC licence fee, which has been reduced by 25 per cent in real terms over the past decade,8 now inevitably impact the World Service as well.

The debate about the future of the BBC tends to be technocratic, focusing on distribution, reach, platforms and partnerships – the ‘how’ of production. The new era deserves a fresh commitment to ‘why’ public broadcasting has much to offer a world facing increasing threats.

The BBC is seen as a declining power set against the major streaming organisations like Netflix and Amazon. And although its global reputation partly rests on British drama and entertainment, it can never match the commissioning budgets of the streaming giants. But the BBC's soft power – the international influence it brings back to the UK – rests firmly with news, which the digital giants have neither the experience nor appetite to offer.

The emerging threats of this century provide at least as strong a rationale for the BBC's global services as those of the past. Post Brexit, Britain needs the BBC's international reach more than ever.

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来源期刊
IPPR Progressive Review
IPPR Progressive Review Social Sciences-Political Science and International Relations
CiteScore
0.50
自引率
0.00%
发文量
43
期刊介绍: The permafrost of no alternatives has cracked; the horizon of political possibilities is expanding. IPPR Progressive Review is a pluralistic space to debate where next for progressives, examine the opportunities and challenges confronting us and ask the big questions facing our politics: transforming a failed economic model, renewing a frayed social contract, building a new relationship with Europe. Publishing the best writing in economics, politics and culture, IPPR Progressive Review explores how we can best build a more equal, humane and prosperous society.
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