TV Broadcasting in Northern Ireland

[Una Murphy]

To quote from Sean O'Casey's 'The Plough and the Stars', TV Broadcasting in Northern Ireland is "in a state of chasis". But don't take my word for it - here are the reports to the House of Commons inquiry by the NI Select Committeee. The submissions by independent producers and the NUJ make sad reading on the state of the industry here - particularly in relation to the lack of commissions from network broadcasters.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmniaf/memo/television/contents.htm
Here's a short piece I wrote for the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom:
http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?subject=public%20service%20broadcasting&doctype=news&id=2198
So if the world of TV broadcasting in Northern Ireland is "in a state of chasis" what's to be done? The skills of people who create programmes for television could be transferred to creating audio-visual content for delivery on the web. More strategic alliances ought to be formed between TV and web businesses - spot of speed dating anyone? As a cynical old hack I'm not sure if the 'Brave New World' is the sort envisaged in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' or by Aldous Huxley. But I'm a glass half full type of gal. I've been knocking on the doors of Skillset and the University of Ulster and they seem to be interested in setting up Continuous Professional Development courses for mid-career TV professionals (not recent graduates) as a way of ensuring that there is a transfer of skills to the nascent digital media industry in Northern Ireland. I think a twin-pronged approach of strategic alliances and skills training should be prioritised in the next 12 months in Northern Ireland. It's one way of ensuring that the skills haermorrhage caused by people leaving the local media industry due to redundancies and cut-backs in TV production can be staunched.

[Stuart Cosgrove]

Correction: PACt's submission makes some tangible proposals

[Stuart Cosgrove]

Thanks for posting the link and your comments Una. Channel 4 takes a bit of a kicking from three factual companies, much of it fair comment. What I think is missing is solutions, there is a lot of stating of positions but very little strategic solutions, and a very distinct sense that blame should be apportioned in London, and self-reflection on the industry all but absent. The focus of Broadacsting, meant that digital media and future technologies are also a structured absence.
I was hoping for more suggestions rather than a re-stating of past failures.

The one major area that surprised me was that Ofcom have not identified NI as one of the areas for a contestably-funded news pilot, I would have thought that had real potential, given that NI unlike other nations and regions were vociferous about contestability.