Compulsory loyalty? Accountability, citizenship and the BBC

Abstract

This paper situates contemporary debates about the governance and accountability of public service broadcasting in the context of debates in the UK about renewal of the BBC’s Charter. It draws on Warnock’s (1974) notion of accountability as provision of information and the ability to exercise sanctions and on Hirschman’s (1970) and Thompson’s (2003) distinctions between exit, voice and loyalty and hierarchical, market and network forms of governance. How is accountability to be exercised in the contexts defined by Hirschman and Thompson and what is the role of trust (O’Neill 2002)? In contrast to the “strong” framing of the normative conception of the consumer (see Peacock 1986, Potter 1988, Sargant 1992 and 1993) as an active user able to hold institutions to account in a well functioning market the citizen in broadcasting is constructed (following Marshall 1981) merely as the “weak” object of distribution of welfare rather than as an active agent able to hold broadcasters to account. In consequence, the UK Government’s proposals for a new BBC governance regime are considered perhaps inadequate to meet contemporary demands for improved public service accountability.