Natalie Fenton Goldsmiths, University of London Since the last newsletter we’ve had a Conservative government elected, Corbyn-mania has taken hold, a new academic year has begun and with the new term comes another three government/parliamentary consultations! Why do the deadlines for consultations always seem to coincide with the busiest times in the academic calendar? This …Continue Reading

Des Freedman Goldsmiths, University of London Many of us are rightly preoccupied with responding to the Green Paper’s attempt to shrink the role of the BBC and to restrict the flow of funding that it needs to fulfil its remit. Many of us also acknowledge that the Corporation needs a serious input of democracy into …Continue Reading

Michael Klontzas University of Huddersfield At times like these, as the debate about the BBC gets increasingly heated and arguments focus on ever finer details, it is not difficult to lose sight of the fact that the issues at stake extend beyond the borders of this country. Public service across significant parts of Europe is …Continue Reading

Neil Blain University of Stirling The relationship between BBC corporate headquarters in London and its BBC Scotland counterpart in Glasgow has seldom been without tensions. These are usually about finance and control, against a background, not mutually understood, of the distinctness of Scottish culture, society and politics. More recently, during and after the independence referendum, …Continue Reading

James Rodgers City University London Foreign affairs usually count for little at general elections. Voters’ more pressing concerns come to the fore: health, education, their own personal economic circumstances. There are exceptions. While exact effects are hard to prove, the Liberal Democrats’ claim that they benefited in the 2005 UK election from opposition to the …Continue Reading

Ivor Gaber University of Sussex My entry for the prize for the most unsurprising allegation of the year was the uncannily similar complaints that emanated from a number of Conservative MPs who claimed that the BBC’s reporting of the 2015 general election had been overtly pro-Labour (fat lot of good it did them, one might …Continue Reading