Truth and consequences
In the dock
Few could have predicted that what appeared to be a straightforward scandal involving Channel 4 and premium rate phone lines (Richard and Judy's You Say We Pay competition) would ultimately lead to this outpouring of both confessions and soul-searching, although the long term consequences for the independent production sector are still relatively unclear.
Partly behind this chain of events is Mark Thompson being on the defensive in relation to the BBC. Although the battle for the licence fee has been won for the next few years - although it was a hard battle and the BBC didn't get the rise it was looking for - Thompson knows that he still has to justify the BBC's position and the licence fee against a small band of ardent critics.
To this end, the BBC has to be seen to be of the highest integrity in order to maintain its privileged position, since any subsequent scandals of this nature could both unseat Mark Thompson and (more importantly) throw a spanner in the works of the BBC Trust; itself set up as the result of the scandal in relation to the Hutton report. (And look what happened there.)
It's ironic that the defence of a public service broadcaster which was set up well before the era of Thatcher and Channel 4 should trigger events that have caused certain people to evaluate an industry which had occasionally put profit before ethics for many years, although the ability to make money using phone lines has recategorised some of these deceptions into fraud.
The 'Crowngate' affair ended up being the major trigger, leading to all the other revelations from the BBC and (reluctantly) other major broadcasters; if the BBC had kept quiet (which it couldn't, courtesy of the licence fee defence and the Hutton fallout), it's unlikely that ITV, Channel 4 and Five would have followed suit.
Whether an independent production 'kitemark' standard would improve the reputation of a tarnished sector remains to be seen, although properly regulating premium rate phone services is very likely to be uneconomic and unpractical. And the revelation that the RDF editing confession was made just to shore up its share price does Channel 4 no favours at all.
