Business as usual
Fincham outlines populist agenda
The BBC has appointed Peter Fincham as the new controller for BBC One; a slightly controversal move in that it's an appointment made from the independent sector (ex-Talkback Thames) as opposed to a candidate with previous in-house experience such as Jane Root. It's early days yet but the indications are that he will be following a very similar 'populist' strategy.
What's interesting is that the BBC still isn't shying away from the populist route when it comes to the UK's most popular TV channel, despite pressure being placed on it not to upset the commercial competition too much (ie. avoid showing programmes that lots of people want to watch) which has become more acute recently as the commercial competition increases exponentially.
There are some people in the media industry who dislike the BBC just because it has the nerve to produce popular commercial sector-bashing 'copycat' programmes such as Celebrity Fame Academy. But whether you like it or not, licence fee payers in general should expect popular mass market entertainment to be made available alongside ballet and opera, as long as it is of high quality.
