Okay, if the absolute worst happened and the BBC was suddenly no more (though I seriously doubt it’ll come to that) the big hitters like Doctor Who and Sherlock would be fine. They make tons of money, someone else would snap them up. It’s the smaller things – the children’s programming, the blogs covering important issues, the non-English-language radio stations – that would be the first to go.
bbc
But why should other people pay for your fandoms? Gurl.
lol, so, a) I pay my licence fee (you did not do your homework sir I am Scottish to my core) and b) they’re not “my” fandoms. The BBC does a lot of things relevant to fandom, and the post is geared towards fandom and how fandom interacts with the BBC, but the BBC is also a public service. It provides important and needed services for the marginalised, who don’t receive broadcasting in the private sector. For instance, the BBC does large amounts of programming in Welsh and Gaelic, both minority language communities that would never receive broadcasting from other channels that need to make profit. The BBC also does broadcasting about issues facing minority communities, and sitcoms about their lives that appeal to much smaller audiences than Channel 4 and itv can afford. (For instance, it’s British Asian broadcasting, including such gems like Citizen Khan, a sitcom about a British muslim family, and My Jihad, a love story about a muslim single mother and the young man who falls in love with her.) They also make shows that are expensive but serve the national interest, such as the news (including local news that isn’t profitable, like Reporting Scotland), nature programs (if anyone comes at me about sir attenborough i will fight you he is a national treasure) and much more.
The post I made (here if you haven’t seen it! http://girlmarauders.tumblr.com/post/124576108637/how-to-backthebbc) was intended to serve two purposes. 1. to inform non-British people what was happening to the BBC and to encourage them to remind British people why so many people love the BBC so much and 2. to give other British people who love their BBC things to do in order to help defend it.
Gurl.
In the backthebbc tag for Reasons. I’m reblogging this one, if that’s okay, because so many people don’t realise that the issue goes far, far beyond ‘fandoms’.
How to #BackTheBBC
The BBC is an incredibly important, publicly funded British institution that has given fandom so many gems over the years. Big fandoms, like Doctor Who and Sherlock, owe their big production and talent base to the BBC. Small gems, Merlin, The Three Musketeers, Atlantis, are what they are because the BBC can make small shows enjoyed by those who love them. The BBC also makes Radio 1, which gave us Nick Grimshaw & the Breakfast Show, Dan and Phil’s album show, lots of British youtubers bigger audiences and a lot more.
Currently, the BBC Charter, which lays out how the BBC is run, what kind of shows it can make and importantly, where it gets it’s funding from, is currently under review by a Conservative government that seems determined to cut itss funding and capabilities to provide quality broadcasting and information services to the UK and abroad!
Here are some links to articles about the threat to the BBC:
The Independent
The GuardianThere has already been the beginnings of a defence of the BBC, from big names in the UK and from the BBC itself:
The GuardianThe BBC has always been supportive of fan communities. They’re active at ComicCon and in other fan spaces, are grateful to ficcer and fanartists for their engagement and don’t come after creative fans for their content. These reforms are about money and power but the BBC has always been about passion and creativity, just like fandom.
What can I do to help?
1. Tweet using the #BackTheBBC hashtag, talking about why you love the BBC or the content the BBC produces.
2. Sign an online petition. Here’s one here, to get you started at 38 Degrees:
3. Join in on a joint letter from overseas fans explaining to the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport why the BBC reflects highly on Britain and is a positive force in the world! link to help draft and sign up here: Google Form
4. Share pro-BBC media with your followers! Tweet about the threat to the BBC, share videos like this one: What Has The BBC Ever Done For Us or this one: For All Of Us and make sure your followers know that their favorite content might be under threat! Fandom is all over the world, and getting the word out is important.
5. Encourage your British followers to write to their representatives in Parliament! You can send your MP an email here: or can write a personalised email after finding the contact details for your MP here:
6. You can also respond to the government’s public consultation of the BBC’s charter here:
Please don’t write this off because you don’t like Doctor Who/Sherlock/whatever, the BBC does so much good and British news and entertainment will certainly suffer if it goes.
Since the election and the appointment of John Whittingdale the BBC’s future has seemed ever more in doubt, and I worry terribly about that. I love Doctor Who, for a start, and I don’t want to see it go. But more than that, I worry about Cbeebies. It’s so good for disabled children and adults, really genuinely good – it has a show done entirely in Makaton and aimed at children with learning difficulties, a show starring a visually impaired little girl played by a visually impaired little girl, one of the presenters is disabled… (there’s also a lot of racial diversity, more so than the mainstream BBC I suspect.) It does such a good job, but I really worry it’ll be one of the first things to go when the hammer inevitably falls.