Goodbye substance, hello ratings

Devil's Advocate is John Humphrys's first book and, given his long career in journalism - of which most of the time was, and …

Devil's Advocate is John Humphrys's first book and, given his long career in journalism - of which most of the time was, and is, with the BBC - it is a rather sombre one: within it, there are long shadows of doubt about society and the profession of journalism, stretching from the Aberfan disaster to the present day. The draining of the substance from journalism and its replacement by the drive for ratings in broadcasting is the theme of the book.

John Humphrys is now presenter on the BBC Radio 4 morning news programme, Today. His professional life began at 15 years of age as a cub reporter on the Penarth Times, and he moved on to the Merthyr Express and Western Mail, and to television at HTV before becoming BBC's Northern Industrial Correspondent, the first full-time BBC TV correspondent in the US and thence to South Africa, also for the BBC. After that he was Diplomatic Correspondent, then newscaster on the BBC1 Nine O'Clock News, and now on radio with Today. At one stage in his career he accepted a job with the Sunday Times, but his mates back home in Wales persuaded him to go to HTV instead.

His book is a sort of "working memo", recording elements of certain events and positioning them within - as he sees it - the social and moral structures of British (but mostly English) society. Although he's Welsh by upbringing and first formation as a journalist, his observations are located from within districts surrounding Broadcasting House and the Television Centre at London West - although considerably formed by his vast experience both as a foreign correspondent and as a national commentator. Divided into three sections ("The Shoulder-Shrugging Society", "Consumer Populism", and a final what's-to-be-done-about-it-all section), the book gives a good insight into broadcasting at the BBC. As one might expect from the author, it is not informed by gossip or golden memories, but written from within the battlefield.

Central to it - and of most interest to Irish readers - are Humphrys's concerns about the quality of news and current affairs, particularly at the BBC: "The pressures to be both sensational and entertaining are making themselves felt in the part of broadcasting that's supposed to be dedicated to telling us what the real world is actually like: news and current affairs". He argues cogently that the drive for ratings on the one hand and the development of what his one-time hero in broadcasting, Martin Bell, began to sponsor - the journalism of attachment where, in the face of evil, reporters should not and must not remain detached - have reduced the standard of BBC news journalism.

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Humphrys believes that such campaigning journalism should find, and must be given, a place in broadcasting but not "in mainstream news programmes such as the Nine O'Clock News". He believes that in the convergence of the push for ratings and the journalism of attachment a deadly blow is being dealt to real and factual reporting and that the end result is a fusing of journalism and entertainment.

Given that concern about the content and substance of broadcast news, Humphrys argues that the BBC has retreated to a strategy of ratings-driven schedules. He notes, and I agree, that "in the long term the BBC ratings will fall. The rate at which they fall will be determined by how well everybody at the BBC performs, but fall they will. And the more they fall, the more the BBC must defend its intrinsic values: good, honest and accurate information, education and entertainment. If it chases the ratings at the expense of the those values it does not deserve to exist."

The RTE situation is, in one respect, similar to that of the BBC - it is a public service corporation. Unfortunately, and unlike the BBC, it is funded both by licence fee and advertising, with the greater part of its funding from the latter. Advertising means ratings and the RTE schedules are now driven by these and by its increasing attempts to secure sponsorship for its programming. RTE's share of the television audience must decrease as choice becomes available. Its current E strategy of chasing TV3 is irresponsible and futile. The strong hand in the RTE deck is the amount and quality of its home-produced programming but the quality of RTE programming is sliding and its range of offerings is being reduced. This has been brought about by a scheduling strategy driven by populism, in which important programming elements are being placed at the periphery of the RTE schedules.

There is no doubt that the extent of the income from advertising is a corrupting influence on RTE television schedules. Do we shrug our shoulders? What is missing out of Minister Sile de Valera's new broadcasting bill, due for committee stage in the Dail this October? Is any serious consideration being given to the issues involved in the future funding and shape of RTE in a digital age?

It has been suggested by some unnamed BBC spokesman that in Devil's Advocate John Humphrys is sailing too close to the wind for an employee of the Corporation, that he's practising a sort of treachery from within. But Humphrys has written an important book. It is actually a defence of the BBC and its standards, while deeply concerned about the profession of broadcasting. RTE remains dumb and its staff mute in the face of similar problems.

Muiris MacConghail is a former Controller of Programmes at RTE Television. He now teaches in the School of Media, DIT