Fustian

The frustrated former broadcasting executives of Ofcom have been eating at the pompous tree again, with their first annual report on the BBC's performance.

This pseudo-scientific exercise pretends to analyse in detail the BBC's output. It's long enough - 55 pages, with Appendix 1 at 107, and Appendix 2 at 17; 1422 pages in just one set of data tables. It talks a lot about its "Key Evidence Base", and how it is interested in trends. Yet one of the pivotal pieces of work is an opinion poll, pretentiously named the "Ofcom Performance Tracker." 

OK, it's an opinion poll of 4,000 people. Some questioned face-to-face and some online - either way, the contributors would be knackered by it. The pomposity permeates the way the questions are framed. 

 "On a scale of 1-10, where 1 means not at all important and 10 means extremely important, how important, if at all, do you think it is that BBC television... takes risks and provides TV programmes and content that is new and innovative ?"

" How strongly do you agree with the following statement, using a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means not at all agree, and 10 means agree completely?  - BBC One offers me something that other television and video providers do not"

It's not yet a Tracker, 'cos this is the first iteration. It's not rooted in the real world, where questions would be direct and honest. "Given the BBC's declining income, would you rather they spent money on plays or football ?". And it's no way to ride shotgun on a creative organisation. Imagine if this country was governed through the results of opinion polls. Elsewhere we learn that the "Ofcom Representation and Portrayal Review: qualitative research" involved just 312 people.

(Of course, there are insights from more traditional counting in the report. No arts or religious programming made BBC1's peaktime schedule during the year. I'll post separately about that.)

Is there a link between this 'evidence base' and Ofcom's four strictures to the BBC ? Were crowds heard chanting "What do we want ? Transparency in BBC commercial operations ! When do we want it ? Now !". I think not.

Was there a mob baying "Maintain your commitment to original UK programmes !"  Were they asked if they'd like a few US box sets ?  Isn't the evidence of the Netflix tsunami that the British viewing public quite likes the odd American blockbuster ? Ask your 4,000 if they'd like a modern equivalent of Kojak, Dynasty, Dallas, MASH or Taxi back, and Ofcom would get an answer it didn't like

Have people been seen on the streets with banners demanding Auntie "continues to improve how it represents and portrays the whole of UK society" ?  Have the 312 set up a Facebook group ?

The fourth stricture - do more to engage with younger audiences - has been obvious to all broadcasters, commercial and psb, for a decade. Ofcom would be more helpful if its former broadcasters said how....