Monday 10 February 2020

Never Mind The Murdochs

There is knicker-wetting in certain circles that Elisabeth Murdoch might be the next Director-General of the BBC.

There is also talk of Rebekah Brooks, against whom Keir Starmer refused to construct a strong enough case to secure a conviction, so as to ensure that Rupert Murdoch would not stop him from becoming Prime Minister one day.

But the only difference between the Murdochs and the BBC is that the Murdochs did for some years employ George Galloway on talkRADIO. Apart from that, what is there?

Between them, the Murdoch media and the BBC are the two biggest cultural engines of neoliberal economic policy, of identitarian social policy, of neoconservative foreign policy, and of anti-industrial Malthusianism, certainly in Britain, and probably in the world. 

By all means let one of the Murdochs (or one of their courtiers, such as Brooks) run the BBC. Apart from the remote possibility of a spot for Galloway, then how would anyone be able to tell the difference?

Enough of this nonsense. How about a competition to find the best idea for a one-off drama, and the best idea for a one-off documentary, from within the working class, most obviously defined as the social groups C2DE, in the area covered by each of the 12 ITV regions? It is just a pity that there is only one ITV region in Wales.

The winners would be broadcast in two regular prime time spots, one for drama and one for documentaries, over 12 weeks. Not necessarily on ITV. But that network does happen to have the regional boundaries in place, and, apart from the Welsh thing, those do happen to be singularly suitable to this task. It would certainly put the BBC to shame. This exercise could be repeated annually.

As could be a competition to find the best idea for a one-off drama, and the best idea for a one-off documentary, from within the rural communities in the area covered by each of the 12 ITV regions. The ITV London region extends well into the Home Counties, so this would be perfectly feasible. Again, the winners would be broadcast in two regular prime time spots, one for drama and one for documentaries, over 12 weeks.

More broadly, ours is the 2020 Vision of a new political party, a new think tank, a new weekly newspaper, a new fortnightly satirical magazine, a new monthly cultural review, a new quarterly academic journal, and so much else besides, including the foregoing. I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.

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