RANDOM ADVOCATE - The BBC

While this blog will look to various news stories I've found of interest, I believe it would be fitting to campaign for certain things, or show support for those who perhaps get too much negative exposure.

For the first of these "RANDOM ADVOCATE" subjects, I will look to:

The BBC

Yes, if it's not one thing, it's another. While we all love television, it seems that we collectively hate much to do with the BBC. Could it be because of the licence fee, or might the reason go deeper than that? Either way, I know I'm fed up with all the moaning, even if the Beeb does tend to cause trouble for itself and back down on certain issues so weakly that you wonder how it has managed to stick around for this long.

Okay, so I'm sounding negative already, but stay with me here. I am proud to be a licence fee payer and for the small amount of television, radio, and Internet coverage that I consume from the BBC, I find myself happy to pay the fee. I didn't get to go to Glastonbury, so I enjoyed watching highlights on the range of BBC channels recently (minus the rain and the atmosphere, yes, but there's only so close you can get to the action...). My wife hasn't bought tickets for Wimbledon, so she is having to make do with watching coverage on BBC's interactive multiscreen viewing platform (minus the rain and the atmosphere, yes, but for the amount of tennis she'd have seen, I sense this is a positive thing this year!). Later this month, I will be looking forward to watching the Proms that are being broadcast on BBC1, 2 and 4, and listening to the audio only concerts on BBC Radio 3.

Now these examples are recent special events that are all happening within about a few weeks of each other. For me, even if I didn't make use of Auntie Beeb again for the rest of the year, I would be happy to pay the licence fee. But there are other programmes that I watch. And that's not even mentioning the time spent listening to radio broadcasts and browsing various BBC microsites and the BBC news website. The news website is regularly my first port of call before I dig in to all the other news sites. It gives me an overview of what's happening and alerts me to any major happenings that I may wish to know about before I focus on other matters.

Given that the BBC have to try and cater for each and every one of us, it surprises me how good a job they manage to do. I can't believe there are many people out there who truly don't watch any BBC channels, or use any BBC websites, or listen to any BBC radio shows. I certainly don't know anyone personally who dismisses the BBC that far. But for all those who dislike the Beeb to that extent, I'd be amazed if it was anything other than an absolutely tiny number of people.

Therefore, I will be reporting on various BBC and related news stories over the coming days and offering thoughts as "RANDOM ADVOCATE". But for now, that's my opinion and I'm proud to be a licence fee payer.

To get you started, you can read Camilla Cavendish's thoughts on BBC3 and BBC4 at the Timesonline website.

Although not entirely positive, Cavendish sums things up nicely when she says:

"Yes, the BBC still has luxuries of resource unknown to most of us in other parts of journalism. But its expertise and cash is not wasted, in my view, when it is spent on Planet Earth or Real Story or much of Radio 4. There is simply no reason to blow it on the crasser items. Lord Reith’s original vision was to offer something to everyone, something which was 'better than they knew they wanted'. That is just as valid an ambition today."

The Guardian also mentions repeats on the BBC, asking if the repeats can be genuinely missed ones, or classic plays that have not been shown for many years and are possibly not even available on DVD.

Now that would be good.