TV industry contexts: blog tasks

 1) What is the BBC's mission statement?

To Inform, Educate & Entertain. This means:

• To provide information (that is supposed to be balanced)
• To support learning for people of all ages
• To produce creative output
• To have diverse content (such as with its representations)
• To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world

2) How is the BBC funded?

It is a public service broadcaster which means we own it. It doesn't make a profit and exists to produce high-quality media for the British public. It's paid for by the TV licence and produces a huge amount of content for the whole of Britain - TV, radio, BBC website, iPlayer and more. (By the government)

3) What must the BBC do to meet its public service broadcasting responsibilities? (Look at the five bullet points in the notes above).

• To provide information (that is supposed to be balanced)
• To support learning for people of all ages
• To produce creative output
• To have diverse content (such as with its representations)
• To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world

4) Who is the regulator for TV and Radio in the UK? You can find details on this in the notes above.

The BBC is regulated by OfCOM (the Office of Communications). OfCOM oversees all media channels and produces a code of conduct that all media channels must follow or have their licence to make content removed and/or be fined heavily. 

5) How is TV and Radio regulated by Ofcom? 

 Content can be shown before the 9pm watershed and various other quality standards.

6) How do Doctor Who and His Dark Materials help the BBC to meet the BBC's remit to inform, educate and entertain? Answer this question in at least 150 words.

Doctor Who meets BBC's remit to inform, educate and entertain. They tell the audience how history can be overwritten, how not everything on textbooks in education isnt always true or factual. This is not only educational, but it also informs the viewer that not everything is 100% factual as people have their own perspectives and how they overwrite history to use as propaganda to make a group look bad. The addition of questions about the universe and dimentions also can be interesting to the audience as at the time there was an on-going space race. Doctor who also meets the entertaining part of BBC's remit by showing the juxtaposition between the large room inside the TARDIS and the small, unassuming police box on the outside. Doctor Who seems to like to play what is logical, what can be broken etc. 

His Dark Materials meets the BBC'remit to inform, educate and entertain. They have an interesting plot which shows the conflict between 3 different worlds, a diverse cast which range in personality and appearance, costumes etc. To watch something with a conflict usually sends the audience wanting to know what happens next and if the issue will resolve. The diverse cast makes people feel included. In a way, this does educate people more about fantasy creatures and mechanics (from steampunk). This might also inform people in a subtle way about the ongoing conflicts in the world.