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University of Winchester  
Faculty of Arts Research Seminar. All welcome.

Wed 15 Feb, 4.30pm, FWB204  
How Free is the BBC?  
Dr Tom Mills (Aston University)

Is the BBC an authentically independent and impartial broadcaster? Or is
it a mouthpiece of the government, the state and the Establishment? In
this seminar, Tom Mills provides an overview of the scholarly evidence
on the BBC's reporting, as well as its long history from its origins in
the 1920s, to the cultural upheavals of the 1960s, and its neoliberal
transformation from the 1980s to the present day.

Tom Mills is a Lecturer in Sociology and Policy at Aston University. His
work is centrally concerned with the ideas and practices of powerful
groups and actors, and the social networks which influence policy
making. Tom was a researcher at the University of Bath where he worked
on the ESRC funded project, 'Understanding and Explaining Terrorism:
Expertise in Practice'. His PhD research, also at Bath, examined how the
collapse of social democracy and the rise of neoliberalism impacted on
the BBC's organisational structure and culture; work which forms the
basis of his book The BBC: Myth of a Public Service (Verso, 2016).

Reviews of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service

"Impressive ... a direct challenge to the notion of the BBC as a pillar
of liberalism and social democracy"  
-- Ivor Gaber, Time Higher Education

"Reveals that far from being a sanctuary for independent journalism, the
BBC is intimately connected to the power it is supposed to hold to
account. This book is a brilliant corrective to mainstream histories of
the BBC and a valuable reminder of the need to build a democratic media
that is free from vested interests."  
-- Des Freedman, Professor of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths

"The BBC is a key element in Britain's unwritten, and rarely described,
constitution. The role it plays is inseparable from the misconceptions
that surround it, and that it energetically promotes. Tom Mills has set
aside both liberal and conservative fantasies about the institution and
describes it as it is in fact. The result is required reading for those
who want to understand Britain, and an invaluable resource for those who
want to change it for the better."  
-- Daniel Hind, author of The Return of the Public: Democracy, Power and
the Case for Media Reform  


University of Winchester Faculty of Arts Research Seminar. All welcome. Wed 15 Feb, 4.30pm, FWB204 How Free is the BBC? Dr Tom Mills (Aston University)  Is the BBC an authentically independent and impartial broadcaster? Or is it a mouthpiece of the government, the state and the Establishment?

Postagens de Rogue Scholar

How Free is the BBC? Dr Tom Mills (Aston University), University of Winchester, Wed 15 Feb, 4.30pm, FWB204