JOHN REITH AND THE FEUDAL VALUES
JOHN REITH AND THE FEUDAL VALUES

Summary/Abstract: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has self-promoted its reputation as the “standard” by which all other modern broadcasters should be judged. While the international face of the BBC represents the British Foreign Office, its domestic services are supposed to mirror the British way of life. However, this “British-ness” owes its origins to feudal cultural norms once articulated by John Reith who both shaped and directed its broadcasting policy. Reith admired Mussolini and shared Hitler’s dislike for modern jazz. He banned Churchill from the BBC airwaves before WWII and he regarded American commercial broadcasting as “`vulgar.” It was Churchill who helped to end the BBC monopoly by introducing commercial broadcasting which brought with it a commercial culture that both Reith and Hitler despised. Today, many Britons look back fondly to that quieter, more unified and dignified age of Reith and pose this question: What price has Britain paid for its broadcasting freedoms?

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