Beatrice Groth

Before the 20^th century, broadcasting was relegated, only to the Public Service broadcasting institutions worldwide. The BBC, UK’s premier Public Service Broadcaster, was funded by the tax payers. The BBC is known for providing quality radio, television news and programmes to audience, not only in Britain, but worldwide. Denis McQuail in Journalism and Society, argued that, ‘public service broadcasting, as in various countries, is still the most prominent example of the deliberate application of social responsibility theory to mass media, including journalism’ (McQuail, D. 2013, p. 44).

In a recent lecture Barnie Chouldhury, a former BBC reporter and currently, the interim Director of Communications and Marketing at the University of East London UEL, spoke about ‘the strength of the public service broadcasting.’ The BBC is UK’s public service broadcasting company, with its sister channels; BBC Channels four and five, the ITV and so forth. According to Barnie, the BBC is independent, does not receive instruction from the government and that political parties may seek political coverage during elections in BBC’s terms. TV license is a major source of income for the BBC, with 78% of viewers in 2012, while channels five had 39% and much lower for other channels.

However, the BBC is controlled and regulated by Ofcom, to ensure programming without bias. Martin Conboy, in his book Journalism in Britain, argued that, ‘regulation is a very British, compromise solution to providing an element of balance in the control of journalism, (Conboy, M. 2010, p. 43).

In conclusion, Barnies lecture, gave students  a broader knowledge of how the BBC as a public service broadcasting organization works. The Parliament decreed that, programmes like; the Olympics, World Cups and Wimbledon Tennis games must be freely transmitted.