From gathering together on the sofa to watch a film as a family to spending the evening at the ballet, in different ways the arts touch and enrich almost all of our lives. At the BBC Trust we know that licence fee payers are interested in the arts – be it television drama, film, theatre, music, dance or the visual arts. The list could go on.....
We also know that the BBC puts great store by its arts coverage, and that Tony Hall – since his appointment as Director General – has brought particular personal commitment and energy to this area of output. In launching BBC Arts and BBC Music, he aims to make the arts accessible to all through the BBC.
Editorial standards within the BBC’s arts coverage have undergone relatively little scrutiny until now. That is why the Trust decided to make arts coverage the focus of the impartiality seminar we held yesterday. In this context it means ensuring that a whole range of ideas, views and voices are featured within BBC arts coverage, and that it is inclusive of the breadth and diversity of opinion which exists in relation to the arts.
Seminars are one of the ways in which the Trust seeks to ensure high editorial standards at the BBC, complementing our full-scale reviews on topics such as science, breadth of opinion and the Arab Spring. Previous seminars have examined economic reporting and reporting on Africa.Yesterday’s seminar brought together BBC staff and external guests and speakers to discuss complex editorial challenges including:
How does the BBC ensure that a wide range of art forms, and both new and established talent, is included and critically examined in arts coverage, so that some people are not super-served at the expense of others?
Given the renewed emphasis on arts collaborations with external organisations and people, how does the BBC safeguard its editorial independence when covering the arts?
How does the BBC make certain that it is aware of, and brings to a UK-wide audience, arts from across the nations and regions of the country, reflecting the cultural importance of place?
Those attending noted the high calibre of much of the BBC's arts coverage and the strong contribution the BBC makes to public engagement with the arts, pointing to a range of examples such as the recent programmes to mark the Dylan Thomas centenary.
Contributions also included a strong challenge to the BBC to more fully reflect the rich cultural life and diversity of the UK’s four nations, including recognising the particular nature of the national arts sectors which have developed since the start of devolution.
Those within the BBC, while pointing to the range of artistic work from around the UK that features on BBC networks and is available online, were also aware of the constant need to strengthen and refresh input from the four nations and guard against metropolitan bias.
The seminar also explored coverage of the arts on network news - the amount, the type, the location. This goes to the heart of impartiality - ensuring there is a wide range of voice in arts stories as there should be on any other topic.
The challenge of encouraging arts bosses to speak out on behalf of their sector for fear of being seen to criticise those who fund the arts, or upsetting colleagues, was recognised by many in the room.
Also on the agenda were the benefits and tensions which come from partnerships with outside arts organisations. Both internal and external speakers were keen to acknowledge the high-quality BBC output which can stem from such partnerships and so be enjoyed by the BBC’s audiences. However, they also recognised the risks that these arrangements bring and the need for programme makers and others to take note of the relevant editorial guidelines and seek senior editorial guidance.
The session was lively, honest and revealing. It is clear that those who work at the BBC are enthusiastically committed to producing the highest-quality arts coverage and bringing it to the widest possible audience. They recognised the challenge of ensuring it should be as gloriously diverse as the audience.
The new arts strategy is just three months old. To this end, we will discuss the issues the seminar raised as part of the Trust’s regular engagement with the BBC Executive later in 2014.
