Download or read book The BBC written by David Hendy and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 659 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first in-depth history of the iconic radio and TV network that has shaped our past and present. Doctor Who; tennis from Wimbledon; the Beatles and the Stones; the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales: for one hundred years, the British Broadcasting Corporation has been the preeminent broadcaster in the UK and around the world, a constant source of information, comfort, and entertainment through both war and peace, feast and famine. The BBC has broadcast to over two hundred countries and in more than forty languages. Its history is a broad cultural panorama of the twentieth century itself, often, although not always, delivered in a mellifluous Oxford accent. With special access to the BBC’s archives, historian David Hendy presents a dazzling portrait of a unique institution whose cultural influence is greater than any other media organization. Mixing politics, espionage, the arts, social change, and everyday life, The BBC is a vivid social history of the organization that has provided both background commentary and screen-grabbing headlines—woven so deeply into the culture and politics of the past century that almost none of us has been left untouched by it.

Download or read book The BBC written by Tom Mills and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The BBC: the mouthpiece of the Establishment? The BBC is one of the most important institutions in Britain; it is also one of the most misunderstood. Despite its claim to be independent and impartial, and the constant accusations of a liberal bias, the BBC has always sided with the elite. As Tom Mills demonstrates, we are only getting the news that the Establishment wants aired in public. Throughout its existence, the BBC has been in thrall to those in power. This was true in 1926 when it stood against the workers during the General Strike, and since then the Corporation has continued to mute the voices of those who oppose the status quo: miners in 1984; anti-war protesters in 2003; those who offer alternatives to austerity economics since 2008. From the outset much of its activity has been scrutinised by the secret services at the invitation of those in charge. Since the 1990s the BBC has been integrated into the market, while its independence from government and big business has been steadily eroded. The BBC is an important and timely examination of a crucial public institution that is constantly under threat.

Download or read book The BBC written by David Hendy and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the BBC from its maverick beginnings through war, the creation of television, changing public taste, austerity and massive cultural change. The BBC has constantly evolved, developing from one radio station, to television, then multiple channels and now the competition with the internet and streaming services

Download or read book The War Against the BBC written by Patrick Barwise and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2020-11-19 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There's a war on against the BBC. It is under threat as never before. And if we lose it, we won't get it back. The BBC is our most important cultural institution, our best-value entertainment provider, and the global face of Britain. It's our most trusted news source in a world of divisive disinformation. But it is facing relentless attacks by powerful commercial and political enemies, including deep funding cuts - much deeper than most people realise - with imminent further cuts threatened. This book busts the myths about the BBC and shows us how we can save it, before it's too late.

Download or read book The Beatles at the BBC written by Kevin Howlett and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting an account of the partnership between The Beatles and the BBC, this book covers the pop group's radio career between 1962 and 1970, and includes BBC audition reports and letters. It draws on the reminiscences of producers and presenters who worked with The Beatles, and contains extracts from interviews, as well as memorabilia such as record labels, magazine covers, and listings, including a complete 1962-70 discography.

Download or read book BBC Channels UK written by and published by PediaPress. This book was released on with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Can We Still Trust the BBC written by Robin Aitken and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world's most famous media brand faces the greatest PR crisis in its history, Robin Aitken gives an insider's view.

Download or read book Scrutiny of Value for Money at the Bbc written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorporating HC 359-i and 494-i of session 2009-10, this report draws on the work of the Committee and the National Audit Office since 2003 in examining the BBC's approach to financial matters.

Download or read book Further Issues for BBC Charter Review written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Select Committee on the BBC Charter Review and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-03-03 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report focuses on a range of issues relating to the BBC Charter, including the current bid for the TV licence fee, the link to the retail price index, and the need for transparency in the licence fee negotiations; the costs of digital switchover and spectrum charging; the BBC World Service and the launch of an Arabic language television channel; the 'Out of London' strategy for more regional broadcasting and the proposal to move several BBC departments to Manchester; sports broadcasting and the regulation of listed events; religious programming and the BBC's public service remit. The Committee supports the continuation of the licence fee, although concerns are raised that the annual cost increases above the rate of inflation may threaten to undermine public support for the BBC in the long term. However, it opposes the link between the retail price index and the licence fee, since it gives the BBC less incentive to make economies and efficiency gains, and instead argues that Parliament, rather than Government, should set the level of the licence fee, with the National Audit Office having scope to scrutinise the licence fee bid and publish its findings. The Committee's first report on the BBC Charter (HCP 50-I, session 2005-06, ISBN 0104007508), published in November 2005, focused on the Government's proposals for the future of the BBC, as set out in the Government's Green Paper ("A strong BBC, independent of government" published by the DCMS in March 2005 for consultation).

Download or read book The BBC s management of risk written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-12-06 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Committee of Public Accounts report on "The BBC's management of risk", sets out a number of recommendations on dealing with risk, and what the BBC's Executive Board should implement. Risk comes in different forms, from the risk of damaging the Corporation's reputation as a public service broadcaster to personal risk staff can experience when reporting from dangerous parts of the world. This report follows on from a National Audit Office report of the same title, and is available from the NAO website: http://www.bbcgovernorsarchive.co.uk/docs/reviews/nao_riskmanagement.pdf. Among the recommendations are: that BBC guidance needs a clearer delineation of responsibilities for risk management; that the main themes of risk management are not aligned with corporate objectives; that the BBC should update its assessments of the risks of working in hostile environments, as the abduction of journalist Alan Johnson showed; by failing to comply with its own Broadcasting Code, the BBC was fined by Ofcom over the a live phone-in competition on Blue Peter, and illustrates that some programme makers are ignoring the BBC's own editorial guidelines, exposing the corporation to reputational risk; the BBC has not related its risk to corporate objectives or assigned all risks to named owners; that BBC managers at all levels are not sufficiently engaged in the management of risk; there is still no fully satisfactory regime under which the BBC is accountable to Parliament for the value for money with which it spends licence fee payers money.

Download or read book The BBC s efficiency programme written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BBC's efficiency Programme : Seventy-third report of session 2010-12, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written Evidence

Download or read book The BBC s White City 2 Development written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-02-14 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The BBC's White City 2 property development in West London comprises three new buildings, which were built next to an existing BBC building known as White City 1. White City 2 was financed by Land Securities Trillium under a 30 year partnership deal with the BBC, which also covered property services at 48 other BBC locations. The cost of construction for White City 2 was £210 million, along with £60.9 million for furniture and technical fit-out of the buildings. The development was completed on time, but the Committee of Public Accounts found several aspects of the project constituting risks to value for money. The cost of the development also exceeded the amount originally approved by the BBC Governors, along with significant variations to the scheme as the project progressed. The Committee set out a number of conclusions and recommendations: that the whole life costs of projects should be assessed and made available to the BBC Governors; the BBC should better integrate design and construction, so reducing the risk of design changes after contracts have begun; the license fee money should not be used to subsidise the BBC's commercial subsidiaries, and that rent charged for the sublet of buildings should meet the BBC's costs; that the BBC should not hold on to property which it does not need or which it cannot use cost-effectively; the BBC in future should follow public sector good practice, in particular in estimating whole life costs of projects, monitoring returns to the private sector, obtaining refinancing benefits, and integrating design and construction.

Download or read book BBC licence fee settlement and annual report written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Culture, Media and Sport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-05-19 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Culture Media and Sport Committee says that the main outcomes of the BBC Trust's strategic review do not move the BBC on to the extent required by current circumstances, and that the incoming Chairman will have much to get grips with. The new licence fee agreement was reached "unexpectedly" in October 2010 between the Department for Culture Media and Sport and the BBC, but without any time for wider consultation with viewers or Parliament. The Committee believes the agreement reached is a reasonable one, but the process undermined confidence in both the Government's and the BBC's commitment to transparency and accountability. On the partnership between BBC and S4C, it is unclear how S4C can retain its independence under the new arrangements. It is extraordinary that the Government and the BBC should agree such wide-ranging changes without consultation or giving S4C any notice or say at all. The Committee is particularly concerned that National Audit Office still does not have the promised access to conduct independent assessments of the BBC's value for money. The Committee is also disappointed that banded information on talent salaries is still not in the public domain. The BBC opened itself to predictable ridicule with the decision to hire a "migration manager" who had to commute from the United States to manage the transition to the new Salford site. The report concludes that big questions remain over how radically the BBC needs to reconfigure both content and delivery in the years ahead.

Download or read book The BBC s management of digital media initiative written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-04-07 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the management of the contract with Siemens and the BBC's in-house development of the Digital Media Initiative Programme. The Programme is designed to transform the way in which BBC staff create, use and share video and audio material. It involves the development of new technology to allow staff to manage content efficiently on their desktops, in order to give greater accessibility of digital content for audiences on TV, online and radio. The BBC has made good progress in delivering the programme in-house since it terminated its contract with Siemens. It is now on course to deliver the complete technology by summer 2011. With hindsight, the BBC should not have let the contract for its Digital Media Initiative to Siemens without testing the contractor against other suppliers, especially as there was a high degree of innovation involved. The Programme is no longer expected to deliver the overall net financial benefit of £17.9 million originally anticipated. The BBC approved the Programme on the basis that it would cost £81.7 million and deliver benefits of £99.6 million, but now forecasts costs of £133.6 million and benefits of £95.4 million - a net cost of £38.2 million. The Committee welcomes the Trust's assurance that it would now take a more challenging approach when considering procurements but are concerned with the ease with which the BBC found over £50 million in savings to make up for the losses it suffered through late delivery of the project and its own increased delivery costs. This suggests the need for a more vigilant approach to value for money.

Download or read book House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts The BBC s Move to Salford HC 293 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-10-16 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The BBC did a good job in completing the move to Salford on time, within budget and without disruption services. However, the scale of some of the allowances paid to staff to relocate to Salford is difficult to justify. There were 11 cases where the cost of relocating staff exceeded £100,000 per person, with one costing £150,000. The BBC also failed to make a proper record of the exceptions it made to its allowance policy. The longer term success of the move to Salford depends on the BBC achieving the wider benefits it promised. These include reducing the gap between Northern and Southern audiences in the BBC's market share and stimulating economic and other regional benefits, including creating up to 15,000 jobs. The BBC should set clearly defined expectations for its relationships with its commercial partners and make clear that they must pay their fair share of tax. The BBC's decision to enter into a 10-year contract with the Peel Group for studio space at Salford seems to take little account the fast pace of change in the broadcasting industry. The BBC could end up having to pay for studio services it no longer needs and become overly dependent on them. There is also dismay at the abandonment of the BBC's Digital Media Initiative at a cost to the licence fee payer of £100 million. There have been conflicting reports from the BBC and the BBC Trust on what the project did or did not deliver

Download or read book The BBC written by Tom Mills and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2016-11-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The BBC: the mouthpiece of the Establishment? The BBC is one of the most important institutions in Britain; it is also one of the most misunderstood. Despite its claim to be independent and impartial, and the constant accusations of a liberal bias, the BBC has always sided with the elite. As Tom Mills demonstrates, we are only getting the news that the Establishment wants aired in public. Throughout its existence, the BBC has been in thrall to those in power. This was true in 1926 when it stood against the workers during the General Strike, and since then the Corporation has continued to mute the voices of those who oppose the status quo: miners in 1984; anti-war protesters in 2003; those who offer alternatives to austerity economics since 2008. From the outset much of its activity has been scrutinised by the secret services at the invitation of those in charge. Since the 1990s the BBC has been integrated into the market, while its independence from government and big business has been steadily eroded. The BBC is an important and timely examination of a crucial public institution that is constantly under threat.

Download or read book The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries written by Otto Penzler and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 1439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edgar Award winner Otto Penzler—“detective fiction’s best editor and champion” (The Washington Post)—returns with a new anthology of exhilarating mysteries, assembling Victorian society's lords and ladies and most miserable miscreants Behind the velvet curtains of horsedrawn carriages and amid the soft glow of the gaslights are the detectives and bobbies sniffing out the safecrackers and petty purloiners who plague everything from the soot-covered side streets of London to the opulent manors of the countryside. With his latest title in the Big Book series, Otto Penzler is cracking cases and serving up the most thrilling, suspenseful Victorian mysteries. This collection brings together incredible stories from Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Guy de Maupassant among other legendary writers of the grand era of the British Empire. So brush off your dinner jackets and straighten out your ball gowns for these exciting, glitzy mysteries. A VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD ORIGINAL