Watch clips from the following programme on BBC 100!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0d5w8pf/how-the-bbc-began
- Intro (50th anniversary) 00:00 – 2:25
- BBC radio the start – “opening up new worlds to people” Cecil Lewis 2:25 – 6:41 – what does this mean?
It sounds like an ‘ethos’ – so what is the ethos of the BBC?
The argument of opening up ‘new worlds’ to everyday (= common? poor? working class? uneducated???) people could be applied to new media platforms – so what is the difference?
The answer lies in the distinction between POPULISM vs PATERNALISM.
In many ways the BBC were looking at opening up (and sustaining) the Great Tradition – of progressive Western academic thought, stretching back from the birth of culture and civilization in Ancient Greece to the modern contemporary thinkers of today. So how important do you think it is to sustain that tradition, even if it supports an elitist separation in society – those who know vs those who know nothing
If you are interested much of this discussion informs education (policy) and from English Literature to Cultural Studies there is a tradition of thought that looks at this, for example, The Frankfurt School