1.Broadcasting

BBC

Sound broadcasting is controlled by the British Broadcasting Corporation（BBC），which was founded in 1922as the British Broadcasting Company，and chartered in 1927as an independent public corporation.Its motto is“nation shall speak peace unto nation”.In November 1936，the BBC began broadcasting Britain’s first regular television service from the Alexandria Palace¹ in London.There were only about 100television sets in England at that time.Since then a commercial network has gone on the air，and the BBC itself has split into separate and distinct networks.

The social importance of the BBC grew throughout the 1920sand 1930sas more people acquired radios.George Ⅴmade the first royal Christmas Day broadcast in 1932，and in 1936EdwardⅧgave his abdication speech over the air.During World WarⅡit became a voice of“freedom”through its external broadcasts to Europe，which were listened to by millions of people，sometimes at great personal risk.At home，the wartime radio was the main channel of communication between the government and the people.Winston Churchill made some of his memorable speeches directly over the radio，rather than to parliament.By the end of the war，the BBC was established as the world’s most influential cultural institution and had gained an unrivalled reputation for high quality radio broadcasting.Its influence on the development of centralized broadcasting system throughout Europe was immense.

The BBC has four national radio stations：Radio 1for popular music，Radio 2for light music and sporting events，Radio 3for classical music，and Radio 4for current affairs，news，and general features.The national regions of Scotland，Wales and Northern Ireland have their own radio stations，and there is also a network of local radio stations in Britain.

BBC television has two channels，BBC-1and BBC-2，which compete for audiences with each other.BBC-1mainly transmits programs of general interest such as light entertainment，news，sport，current affairs and children’s programs.BBC-2transmits programs that are more specialized than those of BBC-1，such as documentaries，travel programs，serious plays，concert performances，programs on leisure interests and foreign films.Additional services of the BBC include Ceefax（a“teletext”information service），libraries of some 130，000sound recordings and 20million press cuttings，the Hulton Picture Library，and the weekly publication of the Radio Times and The Listener.Furthermore，15hours of educational and 36hours of Open University tuition are transmitted on television each week；and the six BBC orchestras contribute to 16，000hours of music broadcast each year.

The BBC is managed by a board of 12governors，whose chairman is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Home Secretary.The board then appoints the director-general and the board of management.The BBC has no editorial policy and may neither accept advertising nor broadcast sponsored programs，and it is the duty of the board of governors to ensure that the BBC is free of interference and that no untruthful or biased programs are broadcasted.The director-general is responsible for the day-to-day running of the BBC and，ultimately，is the editor-in-chief.

The domestic radio and television services of the BBC are funded by income from 18million licences（which brought in￡703million in 1983-1984），together with￡8million derived from sales by BBC Enterprises.External services are not funded from licence-fee revenue，but by grant-in-aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office（FCO）.External Services of the BBC are very famous in the world.Their headquarters and studios are in Bush House² in central London，where the BBC World Service broadcast 24hours of English radio programs in different languages to overseas countries.The BBC’s monopoly was always subjected to challenge by those who favored an alternative form of service，and in 1955the Independent Television Authority（ITA）was established to compete with the BBC.ITA controlled，under licence，various commercial television companies that shared between them program time in the regions into which Britain was divided for this purpose.In 1972it became the Independent Broadcasting Authority（IBA）under the provisions of the Sound Broadcasting Act in order to oversee both Independent Television（ITV）and the new Independent Local Radio Service（ILR）.Despite fears that ITV would lead to a decline in standards，the 15 independent companies and later the 50ILR stations brought to broadcasting a considerable degree of innovation from the regions，which led to ITV becoming Britain’s most popular television channel.The advent of competition compelled the BBC to improve its services.

Though the IBA does not itself make programs，it controls the issue of franchise to the program companies and regulates，monitors and physically transmits the programs they produce.By Statute，the IBA must ensure the exclusion from these broadcasts of inaccuracy，indecency，and gross bias；it publishes a code of practice called“Television Program Guidelines”.In 1984，10，300television and 8，200radio scripts were checked against this code.Advertising also comes under scrutiny for similar faults，and some 18%of television advertisements are returned for amendment before being accepted for transmission.Other IBA responsibilities include the Independent Television News；Oracle³，the“teletext”information service started in July 1975；TV-am，the breakfast television service；and the Welsh language service，S4C.The IBA is financed by the program companies and its 12members are appointed by the Home Secretary.Its large engineering staff，apart from maintaining its transmitters，is also active in broadcasting research，and has achieved considerable success in work on digital television system.