the BBC

1. The BBC

2. The history of the BBC
1927 to 1939. The British Broadcasting Corporation came into existence on 1 January 1927, and
Reith – newly knighted – was appointed its first Director General. It is headquartered at
Broadcasting House in London, and is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation[3] and
the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with over 20,950 staff in total, of
whom 16,672 are in public sector broadcasting.
What is the BBC trust?
The BBC Trust was formed on 1 January 2007, replacing the Board of Governors as the governing body of the
Corporation. The Trust sets the strategy for the corporation, assesses the performance of the BBC Executive Board
in delivering the BBC's services, and appoints the Director-General.
The BBC Trust is the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is operationally independent of BBC
management and external bodies, and its stated aim is to make decisions in the best interests of licence-fee
payers. Their job is to get the best out of the BBC for licence fee payers, they also set the strategic objectives for
the BBC. We have challenged the BBC to:
• Make the most creative and distinctive output;
• Innovate online to create a more personal BBC;
• Serve all audiences; and
Improve value for money through a simpler, more efficient, and more open BBC.

3. What do the BBC do?
The BBC, and independent companies working for the BBC, may produce and license commercial products and
services to enhance and complement our output. However, we must never give the impression that we are unduly
promoting any commercial product on air or online. Any references to BBC-related products must be for clear
editorial reasons and there should be no element of plugging.
How does funding for the bbc work?
Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all British households,
companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts.
Our programmes funded by the Global Grant in 2015-16 reached an estimated 143.8 million people (78.5 million in
governance, 11.4 million in resilience and humanitarian response, and 53.9 million in health). DFID awarded us an
A+ rating for our Global Grant overall, meaning we ‘exceeded expectations’.

4. Public purposes and purpose remits
• The Charter defines the main objective of the BBC as the promotion of six public purposes. These
are:
• Sustaining citizenship and civil society
• Promoting education and learning
• Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence
• Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities
• Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK
• In promoting its other purposes, helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging
communications technologies and services and, in addition, taking a leading role in the
switchover to digital television.

5. What do people thing about the bbc? Is it still important.
Anonymous,
• ‘Most people in the US know what the BBC is, but never view it or seldom view it on TV or online. As far as
a new resource itself, I personally think it's superior to much of US TV’
David Haigh’
• ‘I think it is biased (and probably not quite as good as it once was) but still the world's best source for news
(video/radio), information, current affairs and documentary. It is in the top-five for on-line news and
light/medium-entertainment’
David Waddell,
• Yes it is the best source of news and information. I should know. I am a BBC news producer.
Anonymous,
• BBC is one of the best sources of news. It has so much variety. After moving to the US 12 years ago, I was
missing it so much. In my opinion it is one of the most well thought out information outlets.
(Source: https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-think-of-the-BBC-Is-it-the-best-source-for-news-and-
information)

6. Should we pay licence fee’s
: Should the UK government continue spending money on the BBC
World Service?
Ernest W. Adams,
• ‘Yes, absolutely. It helps to maintain the UK's stature as a major geopolitical power despite the fact that the Empire is
defunct. It promotes the use of English and creates a positive view of the UK around the world’
Peter Hawkins,
• Yes. The World Service plays a valuable role in British soft power and increasing our standing abroad. It is right that central
government shoulders some of the burden.
Martyn Davies, (for)
• ‘I think that you can never over-estimate the power of international communication. The BBC is a touchstone of trust and
impartiality, and there is an international audience of people that want to hear a view that is not controlled by their own
country's government’ (for)
• ‘License fee is a better values for money because the government can not profit from it’ (for)
• ‘On the BBC there are no adverts so people are more likely to record or watch channels or films because there aren’t gaps
in between’ (for)
• ‘The BBC show the same things as other companies like Sky but the BBC are public broadcasters and rely on audience
share’ (against)
• ‘Even if you don’t watch the BBC you still have to pay for a TV licence’ (against)

7. I personally feel like the BBC is one of the biggest and best PSB’s (public
serving broadcasters) in the world. They provide key news to most of
the world every single day, have sites that have all the information you
need to know in your education (BBC Bitesize) and they also have their
own TV channels that provide some of the most entertaining programs,
like the soap ‘EastEnders’
Debate