BBC Impartial or not?
1. The BBC has been accused of being biased because they are allegedly pro-Muslim bias. In 2008 Hindu and Sikh leaders in the UK accused the BBC of pandering to Britain's Muslim community by making a disproportionate number of programmes on Islam at the expense of covering other Asian religions. The reason for this was that the leaders believed that the license payers should get an insight on other faiths and not mostly Islam as they all should be shared out equally time wise.
1. The BBC has been accused of being biased because they are allegedly pro-Muslim bias. In 2008 Hindu and Sikh leaders in the UK accused the BBC of pandering to Britain's Muslim community by making a disproportionate number of programmes on Islam at the expense of covering other Asian religions. The reason for this was that the leaders believed that the license payers should get an insight on other faiths and not mostly Islam as they all should be shared out equally time wise.
2. The reason why the BBC should be impartial is because it is funded by the public, because all television viewers pay TV license fee which goes directly into the BBC “pocket”. Therefore it would not be fare to be biased as they are funded by different people with different faiths, color, culture, backgrounds and opinions.
3. I do not think it is possible for a media institution to be impartial the reason for this is, everyone that is viewing it has their own opinion therefore they can say that the institution is biased. So there will always be people saying that they support one side. Also they need to cover both sides of the story which at some moments they do not have enough time to do which means that they are giving one side “the edge”.
4. Impartial (media institution)
Advantages
- You will not receive any complaints of being biased
- Both sides of the story will be told
- Viewers will be satisfied as all points are being put across
Disadvantages
- If not all sides are put across then it will look like you are in favor of one side
- People have their own opinions so they will judge the institution whether they are in favor of their views or not.
5. Public Service Broadcasting
Advantages
- No advertising
- Claim not to be biased
- Have no say in public affairs other then the news
Disadvantages
- They have to cover all stories
- Need to cover the variety of multi faith cultures in the UK
- May not have enough air time to cover all opinions of the consumers
Commercial Radio Stations
Advantages
- Audience may benefit from the adverts
- It gives them a chance to do something else
- They may be able to advertise their own things on the radio
Disadvantages
- They can be biased to one side
- They can chose what to say on air
- The company may be run by their own belief a may not consider other people other than the target audience.
BBC Tim Westwood
For this task we were asked to research on an online radio programme the institution which we would be researching was the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The radio station was BBC Radio 1 which is situated on the BBC website. The show that we were specifically looking at on the website was “Westwood”. Here is a link to the show http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00drr1p. The show airs every Saturday from 9pm to 11pm and offers “Fresh beats, jokes, gossip and surrealness for your Saturday nights”.
The show is presented by a single presenter known by the name of Tim Westwood or “Westwood” known to his fans. The page has a Tim Westwood profile page which gives links to his Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Westwood) which tells people about his life and how he came to be known as the most recognized urban DJ of the decade, and regarded as the most influential figure in hip hop in Europe and as a pioneer of the UK scene.
The appearance of the website is very vibrant the base colour of the website is a dark lilac which is not specifically a boy or a girl colour, which gives the impression that it is meant for teenage boys and girls. There is a image of a speaker and a sub woofer and a microphone lying on the floor which gives the impression that were in the room with the DJ, because of how the website appearance looks “homely”, the image of the speakers look as if the sound is being amplified as you can see sound waves. There is also a large image of the DJ Westwood, which shows him wearing clothes which is “in fashion” and what all teenagers would want to wear. The page is trendy so it appeals to the audience even more.
There are different convergences on the page such as many links, as I stated above there is a link to Tim Westwood’s Wikipedia page. As well as that there is a link to Westwood TV, Tim Westwood’s YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/timwestwoodtv) which shows studio sessions from his TV show, with download links of that whole session. Also there is a tab to his previous video (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/videos/westwood/) and photos (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/photos/westwood/) of past studio sessions with artists and interviews, and his best parts of his DJ’ing career which gives the audience of an insight of what “Westwood” does when he is not on air.
The website has a few non music content such as the Wikipedia page this interacts the audience as they get to understand the life of Tim Westwood and what he had achieved and how he got to the pinnacle of the UK urban DJ scene, also the photos and the videos of the interviews show the audience that he is not only in the studio but out interacting with iconic Hip Hop, UK Grime and R’n’B artists. There are also statements about Westwood from iconic figures in the music industry such as 11 time Grammy award winner Eminem who quoted, "I'm a big fan of Tim, The guy is a one-off. No one does what he does" this appeals more to the audience because it is an honour to be shown gratitude by a big star such as Eminem, which gives Tim Westwood fans more reason to listen to him, because of his recognition.
The target audience of the show is teenagers with an interest in hip hop, UK grime and R’n’B music because of the appeal of it and the advertising of iconic figures in those music industries, also as a teenager myself I would say that “the website looks “cool” as it is within its time and has the colours which appeal to people and that is fashion at the moment, and gives the audience what it wants for the latest music and freestyles”.
The show can only be listened to on both digital radio and analogue radio or on the BBC radio 1 website, which is very good as it can be heard by people that are driving also can be heard by people that have the internet and Sky TV as it is digital therefore there is going to be a BBC radio 1 Sky TV channel which means that it can be heard by anyone with access to a radio, digital television or the internet. Therefore it is more publicized and can be heard all across the UK.
