Books - British Broadcasting Corporation History

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An escapee from the Gestapo, Hans Keller was already known as a critic, teacher, analyst, psychologist, sociologist and polemicist when he joined the BBC. A major influence on a generation of musicians, he remained true to his high ideals and the principle of unity even beyond his own tenure.

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Customer Review: Brilliant book:
Everyone remotely connected with the media and media policy should read it, and it should be on all college media studies reading lists.This is excellently written, alternating extracts from diaries with interviews and analysis, building up a vision of a complex field in which different interests interact. Watching television will never be quite the same after reading this: you get an idea of the kinds of decisions that lie behind what you see on your screen.

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Published to mark the BBC's 70th anniversary, this book celebrates the rich and sometimes stormy history of the Corporation and its programmes. Tracing its expansion from a single radio station, 2LO in London, to today's position as the most prestigious broadcasting organization in the world, the book focuses on the achievements of Lord Reith, the BBC in wartime, the growth of the World Service, the introduction of television, the Hugh Greene years, developing competition from ITV and the changes of the 1980s and 1990s. It includes a date list and a fold-out colour chart depicting the BBC's leading figures and the major political events which have influenced them and the Corporation between 1922 and 1992.

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Which factors shaped broadcasting policy in the 1980s and shaped the face of broadcasting for the 1990s? Has policy led to greater or less freedom for broadcasting? What does the development of policy in this period tell us about the relationship between broadcasting and state? This key for all those involved in media studies provides an assessment of the debates and legislation set in an historical context. Tom O'Malley, National Secretary of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, unearths the seeds of change in the industry by looking at the fractious relationship between the Conservative Party and broadcasters in the late 1970s, tracing economic and technological forces for change and examining the politics (particularly that of the New Right) which lay behind the impetus for legislation. The lobbyists for change from the electronics, advertising and media industries are investigated as are the intellectual lobbyists for deregulation. Opposition to the Broadcasting Act, which was determined and highly vocal, is assessed and its influence on the policy process examined. O'Malley also evaluates key documents in the broadcasting debate, the Hunt Report, the Cable and Broadcasting Act, the Peacock Report and the Broadcasting Act. After comparing UK developments with those in the USA and Western Europe, the book concludes by reflecting on events in the light of debates about the relationship between media and state.

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This is an account of Alisdair Milne's years as Director General of the BBC when he had to deal with the aftermath of the Falklands War, the miners' strike, press accusations, a hostile government, the "Real Lives" fracas, the Panorama libel action and the Secret Society case. Meanwhile the BBC was under scrutiny from the Peacock Committee, license fee negotiations and satellite broadcasting. It also covers the history of the BBC since the 1950s when the BBC wilted under pressure from ITV and then recovered.