Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: modern British culture
- 1 Becoming British
- 2 Language developments in British English
- 3 Schooling and culture
- 4 The changing character of political communications
- 5 Contemporary Britain and its regions
- 6 Contemporary British cinema
- 7 Contemporary British fiction
- 8 Contemporary British poetry
- 9 Theatre in modern British culture
- 10 Contemporary British television
- 11 British art in the twenty-first century
- 12 British fashion
- 13 Sport in contemporary Britain
- 14 British sexual cultures
- 15 British popular music, popular culture and exclusivity
- 16 British newspapers today
- 17 The struggle for ethno-religious equality in Britain: the place of the Muslim community
- Guide to further reading
- Index
10 - Contemporary British television
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: modern British culture
- 1 Becoming British
- 2 Language developments in British English
- 3 Schooling and culture
- 4 The changing character of political communications
- 5 Contemporary Britain and its regions
- 6 Contemporary British cinema
- 7 Contemporary British fiction
- 8 Contemporary British poetry
- 9 Theatre in modern British culture
- 10 Contemporary British television
- 11 British art in the twenty-first century
- 12 British fashion
- 13 Sport in contemporary Britain
- 14 British sexual cultures
- 15 British popular music, popular culture and exclusivity
- 16 British newspapers today
- 17 The struggle for ethno-religious equality in Britain: the place of the Muslim community
- Guide to further reading
- Index
Summary
Introduction
British television was often referred to in the past as 'the best in the world', but now the very idea of thinking of television as intimately bound to a sense of national pride seems almost quaint in a period where, especially for many young people, television is losing its special role as a focal point for a shared national culture. But the contribution of television to a unified British culture was of the utmost concern when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) first started a television service in 1936, building on the approach it had established as the only radio broadcaster. While the BBC was always expected to be loyal to the nation-state in times of crisis or war, it was also structured to be at one remove from direct government control so that it could not be used simply as a propaganda tool for whoever was in political power. This ideal of political impartiality and unbiased information contributed to an ethos of television as a public service that was also free from commercial pressures, financed not by advertising but through a directly paid licence fee, offering improving education as well as entertainment for the masses. When Independent Television (ITV) was introduced in 1954, its reliance on advertising for finance was also offset by stringent public-service regulations to ensure it also fulfilled these broad aims.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture , pp. 171 - 188Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010