PLAID Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones will today say the time has come to devolve major parts of broadcasting to Wales.Coincidently, that £300m pops up again later:
In a keynote speech at the National Eisteddfod, the Deputy First Minister will say there are compelling economic, cultural and democratic reasons for transferring control over TV and radio to Wales in the next Assembly term.
In the wake of recent predictions that S4C’s budget will be slashed, Mr Jones will pledge to put the devolution of broadcasting at the heart of his party’s manifesto next May.
Mr Jones will also say that the dramatic fall in English-language output in Wales, the roll-out of digitisation and proposed cuts by the new UK Government are likely to subject television and radio in Wales to an even more challenging environment – threatening further an industry estimated to be worth around £300m a year.
"Currently around £300m is spent each year on the creative industries in Wales"How exactly do you value a "television and radio industry", what exactly would you include in that term, "creative industries"?
Difficult to answer, but not the main point I want to make here; a much more pertinent question is to ask what percentage of our income tax is spent on culture, media and sport each year? How much choice do we get over how that money is spent?
Something I touched on in the comments here on my recent post in Open Unionism is that it is not the job of government to dictate and compel us to pay for what they have designated should be our cultural/leisure interests. I'm not in the Orange Order, a member of the GAA, I will never attend an opera at Covent Garden nor watch a Welsh-language programme on SC4. If those are the kind of pursuits which float your boat, great, but why should I also be subsidising them with my hard(ish)- earned pounds? Likewise, I don't think it's really fair that you all, in your own small way, are subsidising something which I do enjoy doing, watching Northern Ireland home and away.
Several EU countries operate a scheme by which taxpayers can donate a percentage of their income tax to a favoured cultural, sporting or even religious institution and there's no reason why a similiar system couldn't work here Cancel the TV license fee, slash the Central Exchequer spending on culture, sport and media to, let's see, something approaching 0%? Each taxpayer will then have pockets overflowing with taxcredits to donate, in whatever proportion they wish, to any such organisations presently subsidised by us all.
Probably no London Olympics but also then no more complaints about "London" denying the regions their culture or telly, no more complaints about adminstrations in those regions making biased decisions when allocating their resources. Sounds fair?
11 comments:
Public funding for Welsh language television? Think of it as reparation for English colonialism.
Unless you hold to the concept of retroactive collective responsibility it's hardly the fault of the present-day English...
but just think of the joy of being able to switch your "culture" tax from "English" concerns to have full and sole responsibility pay your own television station.
You don't feel the British state (as opposed to the English) has any particular responsibility towards indigenous languages whose speakers have been discrimated against by the state historically?
But if that British state is to exercise that responsibility, you are inevitably talking about the financing of the languages in question?
And where does that state get the funding for that- from the taxpayer obviously.
It's strange, I know there's virtually no chance of my idea ever coming to fruition but I thought language enthusiasts in particuliar would have welcomed the hypothetical chance to take control of its future away from (I'll admit)an unsympathetic central govt and in the case of N>Ireland, an outright hostile culture minister.
You refer to cancelling the TV licence, does that mean you're advocating no public service broadcasting - no informing, educating and entertaining from the public purse? It could be argued that the BBC is one of the most important means of fostering and maintaining a sense of Britishness.
"It could be argued that the BBC is one of the most important means of fostering and maintaining a sense of Britishness."
Perhaps 50 years ago it could, today no longer.
Public service broadcasting by very definition needs to be providing a service and for a £150 I personally don't get a very good one. 3 programmes on BBC(all on radio) are worth listening to: From Our own Correspondent, Week in Westminster and Radio Ulster. Whenever I've been travelling the World Service has been in the past a useful source of information. I read their news-site via the internet in the morning and that's it. My local network, BBC Northern Ireland is unredeemably bad, much of the news broadcast on the wider UK network is too superficial. Everything else broadcast is tailored for the "attention-span of a gnat" generation.
Pay by Programme is the only equitable way forward, releases money to spend on the culture and leisure as we individually want to.
I take your points about the fragmentation of the media and the quality of BBC news but I'm dubious whether a 'top-end' programme such as the Week in Westminster would attract a viable audience without the wider framework of BBC coverage in which to place it.
I take your points about the fragmentation of the media and the quality of BBC news but I'm dubious whether a 'top-end' programme such as the Week in Westminster would attract a viable audience without the wider framework of BBC coverage in which to place it.
I don't know, whilst it's probably a niche audience it's such audiences which tend to be more loyal and prepared to cough up for the priviledge of continuing to listen. I can't imagine it's that expensive a programme to produce technically and the cachet of its name (and thus ability to attract big name interviewees) would remain. Leaves the cost of presenters and researchers to be paid by subscribers. 10,000 worldwide prepared to pay say 20 GBP annually *should* be more than enough to cover that (if it isn't then they are overpaid to start with).
The BBC is no different now, imo, to any news provider, it should be proving why it deserves my money rather than expecting it of right. At the minute it's not providing that proof.
If those are the kind of pursuits which float your boat, great, but why should I also be subsidising them with my hard(ish)- earned pounds?
Because the people who do enjoy these things are tax payers as well. They might just as well make the same dumbass complaint as yourself about subventing televising hopeless NI football matches.
Likewise, I don't think it's really fair that you all, in your own small way, are subsidising something which I do enjoy doing, watching Northern Ireland home and away.
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