[Swprograms] Private Eye on BBCWS 'rationalising' its programmes

[Mike Barraclough <softbulletin1@xxxxxxxxx>]

As BBC1 prepares for the imminent return of Jackanory,
another series featuring literary readings by actors
is quietly disappearing: this month will see the last
edition of the World Service's Off the Shelf which for
more than a decade has featured great works of
literature from around the globe abridged in 15-minute
chunks and broadcast to around 40 million listeners.
The show -which at the time of writing is broadcasting
J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace read by Sir Derek Jacobi -
will disappear from the schedules along with much of
the station's music programming and drama in April, as
part of what commissioning editor Harriet Green terms
the English language World Service's attempt to
"rationalise" its programmes in favour of, yes you've
guessed it, rolling news.
"Instead of being a channel where it can be
unpredictable what you tune in and find - it might be
a concert, it might be a news programme, it might be a
religious affairs programme - we want to make it more
predictable," Green explained to outraged listeners on
the World Service's feedback programme Write On last
week.
"All the information we have indicates that
serendipity is not what people want. We have to ask do
they expect a reading, or do they expect something
which is going to help them make sense of what's
happening in the world?" That daily readings from
literature might just do that does not seem to have
crossed Green and her colleagues' minds.
(Private Eye, 3rd March)


		
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