The BBC is now a promotional organisation
World Cup politics lectures are part of a wider culture
I remember, seemingly not so long ago, a time when Britain’s four or five ‘terrestrial’ TV channels had distinct identities, doing distinctly different things in different ways.
To generalise a bit, ITV was the most commercial channel, broadcasting relatively high-quality pap for the lowest common denominator that its executives could identify. BBC1 was a step up, putting on quality programmes that also often hit a sweet spot in appealing to a mass audience. BBC2 broadcast interesting documentaries, arts programmes and the like, while Channel 4 was like your wayward little brother who has gone off the rails in a rather entertaining way.
I should probably limit how much I generalise about the present moment because I barely watch any TV these days. However it seems to be clear that this diversity of output has narrowed significantly. BBC1 appears to be largely interchangeable with ITV and BBC2 with Channel 4. Channel 5 I have no idea about; likewise the plethora of other channels available nowadays.
The decline of BBC2 has been significant, with arts critic Waldemar Januczczak (formerly head of arts at Channel 4 under Michael Grade) saying earlier this year that it is now “as pointless and disposable as a Sunday paper pull-out”.
Those pull-outs are generally full of advertising – and this has become true of BBC output too, both on TV and radio and, you could say, online. I first encountered complaints about this in the regular whinges about the BBC in right-wing newspapers and for a while didn’t pay much attention. However in recent years this trait – which I used to assume the BBC existed to avoid – seems to have become increasingly pronounced; and I’ve come to be increasingly irritated by it. Now, it is normal to have your watching and/or listening interrupted by a breathless advert for the latest flagship BBC prime-time ‘show’ or a corner of its output or for the BBC as a whole. And that advert often appears as part of the programming itself: rather like a skilfully-presented ‘advertorial’ in a newspaper.
The BBC has basically followed its commercial competitors into the advertising business: in advertising itself.
This habit of the BBC’s, of engaging in promotional activity, comes to mind in the gathering row about the corporation’s output for the football World Cup in Qatar.