Getting the balance right
Bannister says anti-fakery regulations are damaging BBC output
It may be true that after the recent premium rate interactivity scandals, both television and radio have become rather more bureaucratic as a result, with more form-filling and back watching to be done just to keep the regulators happy. The way this affects programme content is a cause for concern, but not necessarily in the way some might think.
You can perhaps tell that traditional broadcasters are a world apart from advertising agencies, since the latter seems to thrive on ways of circumventing the numerous restrictions that have been placed in their path whilst the former appears to just moan that their wonderful idea for a phone-in has now become too much trouble to implement.
It seems that the current crop of producers and presenters should not only ally themselves closer to their respective managers but also need to extend their horizons beyond finding new ways of fleecing money interacting with their listeners - not everyone was enamoured with what passed for 'entertainment' just before the scandals erupted.
If done correctly and fairly, interactivity can add value (as suggested by many within the media industry), but more often than not just superficially helped to paper over cracks that shouldn't be there in the first place. Both radio and television relied too heavily on interactivity, and it's now time to bring other creative ideas to the forefront again.
Or are most of the current crop of media professionals just not creative enough?
More blog posts about: BBC, premium rate interactivity
