Public Service Broadcasting

I'm getting sick of all this criticism swinging C4's way about sticking to it's Public Service remit when ITV, and to a lesser extent the BBC, seem to be avoid theirs more and more - with OFCOM being quite willing to help ITV ditch as much as possible.


So with regional and children's programming being the obvious casualties on ITV - while the BBC are no less guilty of providing popular entertainment programmes than C4, who do you think is the best public service broadcaster at the moment?


And I'm sure everyone here probably has a different definition of "public service" - and all ours probably differ to the official one too.

Well the official definition from Ofcom is that PSB "reflects and supports cultural activity in the UK". Well that was Ofcom's definition of PSB in 2004 anyway! I'd perhaps add "edcuates about cultural activity in the UK" too.

I think it is a toss-up between C4 and BBC 1 (or 2). The BBC tends to do PSB series or regular PSB programmes How We Built Britain , Coast , Question Time , Andrew Marr's History of Britain and Newsnight .

Channel 4 tends to opt for stand-alone PSB documentaries, such as Great Global Warming Swindle and that docu that Davina McCall did on sex-education. Both ways of covering PSB are equally valid I think-- not sure which is better though.

I'd say channel 4 are a bit more mainly as they will show a controversial programme whether it kicks up a stink or not.

BBC do quite a bit of PSB but do chicken out a bit when something is deemed controversial mainly because of the Daily Mail brigade

If that kind of back-of-fag-packet, irresponsible 'journalism' is what now constitutes public service, British broadcasting truly is at an all time low.

CH4 only seem to care about 'shocking' people or gaining notoriety. I can't help but think about a bunch of middle aged men trying to appeal to the 'youth' when it comes to their current management. What was 'Wank Week' all about for example?

The thing is it's that stuff that makes the headlines - but there is alot of stuff which goes by without a mention.


BBC1's primetime documentary output seems to consist now of CCTV footage of either shoplifters or speeding drivers!

Exactly, Channel 4 make great documentaries, dramas, etc. yet they're always know for f***ing BB

Has been for a long time!

Indeed....

The Great Global Warming Swindle was the equivalent of watching around an hour of George W. Bush talking about the oil economy - utter rubbish. But, in the end, despite that pile of excrement, C4 stays closest to its PSB remit IMO.

OK, who were the three jesters who voted for ITV?

I don't think you have much to complain about - the ABC here is only going to be showing 24 hours (in total) of locally-produced drama this year. That's on an increased budget, what I suppose you would call a 'good year'.

Once upon a time there was quite a bit more, but it's getting harder to find as cost cutting on both commercial and public stations continues to take its toll.