Word: thompson
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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That scandal claimed the scalp of BBC1 boss Peter Fincham, who resigned on Oct. 5. Two weeks later, BBC director-general Mark Thompson announced plans to kill off some 2,500 jobs, mostly in news and nonfiction programming, and to sell the BBC's iconic West London headquarters, Television Centre. Management is now trawling its staff for volunteers for layoffs. Says Roy Greenslade, a former editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper and currently a journalism professor at London's City University: "The BBC's problems are manifold. There are more dramas at the BBC than ever get shown...
...Thompson's new plan reduces staffing (23,000 before the new round of cuts) and budgets but leaves the range of activities pretty much intact. There's a constant tension between the BBC's aim of making what Byford calls "brilliant, outstanding, special, standout content" and the need to justify its existence by attracting mass audiences, which, as Fox Television has proved, tend to gather at the bottom of the taste pyramid. Consider the huge popularity of reality TV, which is cheap to produce and capable of provoking controversy that hooks big audiences. Controversy is, of course, hard to control...
...vision for the BBC articulated by Thompson is that it will go on doing what it has been doing but with fewer people, a greater impact and higher standards. Quality is the key, whether it's straight news or comedy that spills out of a character's absurdly tight latex outfit. It's the only way the Beeb can bear out this claim by Byford: "The BBC is here to make the world a better place." Perhaps it has to start at home...
...seeks to trap politicians with their own words. But does the technique shed light on the candidates or does it require them to spend time providing context for their previous statements, crowding out more meaningful queries? It was Barack Obama's turn on Nov. 11; the previous week, Fred Thompson's. The Russert ratio of gotcha to substance questions...
...National Right to Life Committee's Nov. 13 endorsement couldn't have come at a better time for Fred Thompson. The folksy former actor got off to a rocky start with social conservatives--advertising his spotty church attendance, punting on questions about Terri Schiavo and displaying insufficient opposition to gay marriage. But Thompson recently hired a top Christian Right activist to improve relations. And in a new TV ad in Iowa, he boasts of his antiabortion record and asks viewers to "remember that our rights come from God, not from government." He'll be looking now for a pro-life...