Why should I pay for the BBC

Every time there is a  news  on proposed job cuts in the BBC, it is seen as an onslaught on objective journalism. However, other media organsations in Britain are not so lucky, irrespective of their level of honesty, objectivity and commitment to the trade.

I really don't understand what the fuss is all about!

If every other organisation can shrink and face cuts why can't the BBC? After all, the days of ceremonial institutionalism are over and the moot question is what impact does the BBC have in determining my news agenda of the day?

Objectivity, neutrality and freedom are
contested concepts in a globalised set up

If the answer is 'NO', which is what is expected in this cut throat age of social media, then the justification of continuing to fund a monolithic organisation run by public money is obviously questionable, even if it raises a debate on objective journalism
Those who know me may find this selfish as only 18 months ago I was earning my living from the BBC. My caveat should also make it clear that I was also instrumental in protesting against job cuts at the World Service and elsewhere in the BBC as an active member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) since 2003. While being appreciative of individual agonies, insecurities and anxieties involving job cuts, I also acknowledge that life is not only a bundle of emotions and reality is often harsher than one expects it to be. Especially, when there are allegations that institutional failings and managerial flaws in the BBC are resulting in wastage of public money.

A dispassionate assessment of the role played by the BBC in figuring out the daily news agenda in the contemporary would show that when compression of time and space is the norm of the day, BBC finds it self-gratifying to be a glorious second or a third, with its 'impeccable' objectivity, when in reality there is nothing of that sort.

In fact, objectivity is determined by the perspective and the context within which it is situated. And neutrality is very much an idealistic concept and hence misfit in this age of 'post-ideology'. Here I am pretending to be a devil's advocate as to many consumers of news BBC has never been neutral or objective.

For example, a piece of news involving an attack on Israeli institutions may be objective for Tel Aviv, but alleged attackers in Gaza Strip may argue that their action is only a retaliation of perceived "occupation" of the Palestinian area. This is only an example and can be extrapolated to many other areas around the world. In fact, terms like 'objectivity', 'neutrality' and 'freedom' are contested concepts in a globalised set up.

BBC has often enjoyed patronisation from elites and middle class, especially in those countries who have shared history of colonial past, including the United Kingdom, not necessarily because of any high standard of journalism but more so as it played the role of an effective propaganda machinery for British and Western interests, which in some cases also contributed to primitive accumulation often by coercive means, and furthered colonial ideas even in a post-colonial era.

 Even then there are some justifications for the BBC to continue as a British news outlet, but it has practically no role in the global space. Like many other things, the significance of news and the credence of its delivery are determined by the influence the provider enjoys. When the United Kingdom has lost out in today's geopolitics, the influence of the BBC is nothing more than being ceremonial, basking on past glory, if there is any, than looking forward to the future.

In that sense, the Global News Division of the BBC and the World Service should face any further cut ahead of any other department in the organisation. Any licence fee payer is within his or her rights to ask as to why they should pay for the information on what's happening elsewhere in the world, when there might not be any interest about it in the first place, or even if any then it could be gathered from many other sources. The golden two-source rule followed by the BBC internally can help any consumer of news to crowd out unreliable sources of information.

The notion of hierarchicalism, which is intrinsically linked to colonialism, will however, guide the masters of the BBC to flaunt triumphalism on the global stage, even when they know for sure that the plot is long lost.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist, media commentator and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 
Twitter Handle: @tirthankarb
All comments are personal.