Original scientific paper
The “Socially Useful” in Public Broadcasting: Between Idealism and Utilitarianism – the Griersonian Element in a Tradition
Bjørn Sørenssen
; Professor, Department of Art and Media Studies, Norwegian
Abstract
The paper contains a discussion of the concept the socially useful in connection
with broadcasting and especially in relationship to public service broadcasting.
Tracing the concept back to John Reith’s influential book Broadcast
over Britain from 1924, written on the background of the author’s experiences
in establishing the BBC, the paper introduces a less known source for the establishing
of the kind of standards that have come to be linked to the idea of
broadcasting programming as socially useful activity in the person of John
Grierson, pioneer of the British documentary movement. The paper makes a
comparison of the underlying social philosophy of the two Scots, claiming that
Grierson´s role may have been underestimated when taking into the account
how the documentary film practices of the BBC can be traced directly to the
influence of the British documentary movement of the 30s and 40s.
Keywords
media history; film history; documentary; public broadcasting; socially useful content; BBC; British documentary movement
Hrčak ID:
46041
URI
Publication date:
2.12.2009.
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