The stand-out paragraph of the 136-page white paper on the BBC's future, published today by Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, instructs the state-owned broadcaster "to act in the public interest, serving all audiences with impartial, high-quality and distinctive media content and services that inform, educate and entertain".
Friendly and approachable, he provides impartial, high-quality advice gratis.
Mission Statement: The mission of the BBC is to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services that inform, educate and entertain.
A new mission statement for the BBC: "To act in the public interest, serving all audiences with impartial, high-quality and distinctive media content and services that inform, educate and entertain". The charter period will change from 10 to 11 years, to remove it from any political cycle.
Great content doesn't just happen: content creators need to be properly rewarded; impartial news and quality journalism from many sources needs to be secured when the business models that sustained them in the old world have disappeared; and we need a second public-service provider of content across multiple platforms, with reach and scale, alongside the BBC.
"The key to making this work will be a requirement on providers to give consumers high quality, impartial advice on their options across the whole of the market, with maximum protection at this critical time in their financial lives".
As I wrote in the "Experience Fallacy," using an impartial ranking of quality is important here to avoid bias, so I based my analysis on the 2000 Wall St. Journal poll of historians, which touted its composition of "liberal" and "conservative" historians.
That's why access to high-quality, impartial information, careers advice and guidance is important.
Whether a show is distinctive, impartial or high-quality depends on your tastes.
