1.00pm - By CIAR BYRNE
Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC has signalled a major new direction in programming for the corporation, pledging to ditch reality TV and lifestyle shows in favour of comedy and other areas of "excellence".
In his first public speech since taking over as director general in June, Mr Thompson said the BBC has been forced to reinvent itself every couple of decades by technological, political and social change.
He compared his new editorial vision for the BBC with the sea change brought in by his predecessor John Birt nearly 20 years ago, when he announced that news and current affairs was the cornerstone of the organisation.
Mr Thompson described the 1980s news and current affairs revolution as "lop-sided" and said the BBC is currently drawing up a list of other areas including comedy that should receive "top billing alongside news and its contribution to public value".
The director-general promised to overhaul the BBC's programme strategy to weed out shows that do not have a strong public service element.
"In genres where the BBC does not have a paramount mission - some of the light factual genres, leisure and lifestyle, format documentary, reality, some forms of general entertainment - we have to be very sure that we really are adding something distinctive and original and valuable within each genre," Thompson said in a speech to the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
He singled out the motoring show Top Gear and the recent Jimmy's Farm, which followed a young man trying to make a living as a pig farmer, as lifestyle and reality programmes that do fulfil these criteria, but added that there is "a temptation to give in to the derivative and the tired - to move away from public value" in these genres.
His comments come just two days after the controller of BBC1, Lorraine Heggessy, announced that the long-running property makeover show Changing Rooms is to be taken off air.
Instead the BBC will shift its focus to areas such as comedy, which play an important role in the cultural life of the nation, but are becoming "increasingly hard" for commercial broadcasters to justify financially, Mr Thompson said.
"With Radio 4 and BBC3 as well as BBC1 and BBC2, the resources, and the space to develop and grow new as well as established talent, to me the BBC's role in comedy is just as pivotal as its role in news," he said.
"Although comedy is a branch of entertainment I still think most people would accept that it too plays a critical part in reflecting our national culture and the way we live now," he added.
The former Channel 4 chief executive who was responsible for Big Brother during his time at the channel said that commercial broadcasters could not afford to take the same high-minded approach because they need the income to fund public service programmes such as the upmarket talent contest Operatunity.
"You may decry Big Brother 5. What terrible dumbing down. How seedy. But in a straightforward, profit and loss way which you can measure to the nearest pound coin, Big Brother helps pay for Channel 4 News and Operatunity," Mr Thompson said.
- INDEPENDENT
New BBC director general to ditch realty TV and lifestyle shows
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