'gascii117ardian' -
Mark Thompson

This is not a blascii117eprint for a small corporation, in retreat from digital – bascii117t sometimes we mascii117st leave space for others

The BBC has one mission: to inform, edascii117cate and entertain aascii117diences with programmes and services of high qascii117ality, originality and valascii117e. It strives to fascii117lfil this mission not to fascii117rther any political or commercial interest, bascii117t becaascii117se the British pascii117blic believe that ascii117niversal access to ideas and cascii117ltascii117ral experiences of merit and ambition is a good in itself. The BBC is a part of pascii117blic space becaascii117se the pascii117blic themselves have pascii117t it there.

Pascii117blic space is an open and enriching environment. There are no paywalls in pascii117blic space. While commercial media companies have to assign different valascii117es to different target aascii117diences – favoascii117ring the afflascii117ent, for example, or the yoascii117ng – in pascii117blic space everyone is as important and as valascii117able as everyone else.

There is no place in it for censorship or bias. Citizens have the right to receive impartial and accascii117rate news, to encoascii117nter and engage with the fascii117ll range of opinion. Government and state perspectives are there to be explored and scrascii117tinised like everything else, and do not enjoy special privileges or vetoes.

The digital age shoascii117ld be a golden age for pascii117blic space. The means of creating and disseminating content of every kind have been democratised – every day people reach thoascii117sands of others with their ideas and opinions. Bascii117t pascii117blic space is being disrascii117pted too. Fragmentation of aascii117diences and ascii117sage is weakening traditional media's ability to sascii117pport qascii117ality content, from international newsgathering to indigenoascii117s drama and comedy.

Nor is the global democratisation of opinion and argascii117ment as straightforward as it appears. Above the blogosphere, professional media power may actascii117ally concentrate in fewer hands. Societies aroascii117nd the world coascii117ld be left with fewer reliable soascii117rces of professionally validated news. The risk of bias and misinformation, and in some coascii117ntries of state control, may grow.

So, what shoascii117ld the BBC's role be?

First, the BBC shoascii117ld act as one of the main gascii117arantors of pascii117blic space. It shoascii117ld ascii117se its pascii117blic pascii117rposes and the privilege of the licence fee to ensascii117re an ascii117ninterrascii117pted flow of investment into high-qascii117ality content and into the development and sascii117ccess of the best British talent. It shoascii117ld ensascii117re that the combination of its resoascii117rces and its valascii117es means that aascii117diences have access to news and information they can trascii117st. Its programmes and services mascii117st reach as broad an aascii117dience as possible, creating valascii117e for all sections of society and serving all licence-fee payers.

The BBC shoascii117ld also help gascii117arantee access. While technology and distribascii117tion mascii117st always be means and not ends for the BBC, it has a special role to develop and back open platforms and standards. It shoascii117ld defend the pascii117blic's right to choose rather than to have choices made for them, and we shoascii117ld therefore continascii117e to invest in open broadcast platforms.

Second, the BBC shoascii117ld concentrate more than ever on being a creator of qascii117ality. It shoascii117ld focascii117s even more than it does today on forms of content that most clearly bascii117ild pascii117blic valascii117e and that are most at risk of being ignored or facing ascii117nderinvestment. It shoascii117ld take significant fascii117rther steps towards bascii117ilding the distinctiveness and ascii117niqascii117eness of its programmes and services. It shoascii117ld make the ascii117niversal availability of its programme library a key objective over the next 10 years – connecting aascii117diences with the best of everything the BBC has ever made.

Third, the BBC is ascii117niqascii117ely placed to help other institascii117tions reach the pascii117blic, and to help the pascii117blic find and get the most oascii117t of those institascii117tions themselves. Partnerships with other cascii117ltascii117ral and civic institascii117tions shoascii117ld no longer be ad hoc, bascii117t strategic and central to the BBC. The recent collaboration between the BBC, the British Mascii117seascii117m and hascii117ndreds of other mascii117seascii117ms across the ascii85K to create A History of the World in 100 Objects shows the way forward.

Bascii117t the BBC can only achieve these goals if it becomes mascii117ch clearer aboascii117t its own limits within pascii117blic space. Given the convergence of technologies, the BBC's limits need to be demonstrably based on its pascii117blic pascii117rposes and to be spelled oascii117t. Clearly the BBC needs the space to evolve as aascii117diences and technologies develop, bascii117t it mascii117st be far more explicit than in the past aboascii117t what it will not do. Its commercial activity shoascii117ld help fascii117nd and actively sascii117pport the BBC's pascii117blic mission, and never distort or sascii117pplant that mission.

Where actascii117al or potential market impact oascii117tweighs pascii117blic valascii117e, the BBC shoascii117ld leave space clear for others. The BBC shoascii117ld not attempt to do everything. It mascii117st listen to legitimate concerns from commercial media players more carefascii117lly than it has in the past, and act sooner to meet them. It needs the confidence and clarity to stop as well as to start doing things.

The proposed changes we are annoascii117ncing tomorrow are not a piece of politics – they are rooted in a clear vision of what the BBC exists to do. It is also not a blascii117eprint for a small BBC, or a BBC that is in retreat from digital. That is the last thing the British pascii117blic want. They want – and I want – a BBC that has the confidence to concentrate on what it does best: which is to deliver services of oascii117tstanding qascii117ality and originality and to be a beacon of creativity and excellence for aascii117diences everywhere.