Media Secretary Urges Broadcasters To Learn Lessons From TV Controversies
Broadcasters have once again been urged to ‘put their house in order’, with new media secretary James Purnell using his speech at the Royal Television Society in Cambridge to tell broadcasters to move on from the problems that have plagued the industry this year.
Purnell said that broadcasters had to learn the right lessons from controversies like the phone-in quiz debacles (see GMTV Could Face Record Fine Over Phone-In Scandal), and that a greater respect for the audience was needed.
TV produced in this country was something to be proud of, he said, adding that content would “win out.”
“You [broadcasters] need to put your house in order, and if you don’t there will be a clamour for Ofcom and the BBC Trust to take further action… I do think people feel let down. But you only get to feel let down if you hold something in high regard in the first place,” he said.
He added that the industry should continue to produce good quality content in order to re-establish viewer trust.
“Deep pessimism is very rarely appropriate. We mustn’t cover our anxiety in a fog of jargon and lose sight of the basic facts. The basic facts are that broadcasting in this country is very good, and that, in the end, it will be the quality of the output that settles all the big questions,” he added.
Purnell also set out a number of measures aiming to look at the changes in broadcasting technology and how public service broadcasting is delivered on new media platforms.
These include a series of public debates, to start at the end of this year, which will initially consider how the government can secure open markets in the broadcasting industry and empower consumers.
Audience trust and the state of the television industry, as well as forecasts for the future of the medium, are set to be discussed at MediaTel Group’s forthcoming all-day seminar, ‘The Future of Television’ (see Full-Day TV Seminar To Tackle Big Industry Issues).
For more information and to book, click here.
MediaTel Group: 0207 439 7575 www.mediatelgroup.co.uk