Trouble at the BBC: Time to Demolish, Defend or Democratise?
Trouble at the BBC: Time to Demolish, Defend or Democratise? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, February 23rd 2020 The BBC is in crisis. Boris Johnson’s Downing Street are floating the scrapping of the licence fee. This when the BBC need to appoint a new Director General after Tony Hall unexpectedly resigned in January against a backdrop of impending negotiations with the government over charter renewal and the funding of the corporation. On top of this BBC Scotland’s head Donalda MacKinnon has resigned after just three years in the post when the organisation faces future uncertainty, pressures and scrutiny from all sides.
Continue Reading Trouble at the BBC: Time to Demolish, Defend or Democratise?
The Crisis of BBC Scotland – A Lack of Vision, Integrity and Accountability
The Crisis of BBC Scotland – A Lack of Vision, Integrity and Accountability Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 4th 2014 The independence referendum has thrown a spanner in the works of large parts of institutional Scotland. So far the biggest meltdown has been CBI Scotland becoming a registered ‘No’ supporter, then baulking at the consequences. Another was the maneuvering of SCVO on the second referendum question and then being left on its own when the politicians agreed on a single question. But fast coming up the tracks in the incompetence stakes is BBC Scotland. The latest instance is the
Continue Reading The Crisis of BBC Scotland – A Lack of Vision, Integrity and Accountability
Time for a Different BBC Scotland (and STV Too!)
Time for a Different BBC Scotland (and STV Too!) Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 24th 2012 The BBC is in crisis. BBC Scotland faces significant job cuts, a strike ballot of staff, and the prospect of industrial action. At a UK level, the BBC has hardly been out of the news in the last few weeks. There has been the Jimmy Savile scandal, a substantial payout to Lord McAlpine, and George Entwistle having to resign as Director General. The BBC’s problems go much deeper than these immediate problems north and south of the border, and touch on what it is
Continue Reading Time for a Different BBC Scotland (and STV Too!)
My Own Personal Enlightenment: How the Internet is Remaking Us
My Own Personal Enlightenment: How the Internet is Remaking Us Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, August 27th 2011 One of the biggest stories of this week was the decision of Steve Jobs, Chief Executive of Apple, recently rated the world’s most valuable company, to stand down. Apple has changed our planet. It has given us the ipad, iphone, itunes and so much more, importantly leading the way in integrating fashionable products with ingenious software. We now live in an age redefined by Facebook, Twitter and the conversations and connections the Internet offers. There have been the supposed ‘Twitter’ revolutions in
Continue Reading My Own Personal Enlightenment: How the Internet is Remaking Us
The Time for a Scottish Media Voice
The Time for a Scottish Media Voice Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, July 9th 2011 The world has been turned upside down these last few days. There have been elements of an old fashioned morality play and Citizen Kane all rolled into one. Things have been talked about in public which you are not meant to say in front of the children. Ed Miliband and Labour have finally after years turned on News International freed from their previous fear. David Cameron has tried desperately to find his moral compass and appeared at least temporally to have lost his political touch.
The Crisis of the British State and the End of the Cameroon Conservative Project
The Crisis of the British State and the End of the Cameroon Conservative Project Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 8th 2011 This week has been a seismic moment in British politics and public life. Not just for Rupert Murdoch and News International, but for much deeper and serious issues about the condition of British democracy and about who has power and influence in contemporary society. In short, this goes to the heart of what the British state has become and to the role of our political classes in all of this. This may seem like a schadenfreude moment for
Continue Reading The Crisis of the British State and the End of the Cameroon Conservative Project
What is going on in the BBC’s Little Britain?
What is going on in the BBC’s Little Britain? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 25th 2011 Britain has been undergoing dramatic change in these last few weeks. The Scottish Parliament elections, and the arrival of the first ever majority SNP Government following its landslide victory, has been a story of international reach and consequences covered the world over. Strange then that our British media have struggled to address these circumstances other than by caricature or silence. The BBC in particular has not had a good post-election time. The ‘Today’ programme has had Alex Salmond on a couple of times,
Continue Reading What is going on in the BBC’s Little Britain?
