Can the BBC survive in an age of fracture?

If audiences are prone to believing conspiracy theories, a public service broadcaster needs new strategies to ensure it reaches them with the truth. 

In his autobiography  Into the Wind (1949), Lord Reith, the first director-general of the BBC, describes the corporation’s original mission to connect and inform every corner of the country, and beyond. The public broadcaster, he wrote, was about the amenities of the town being carried to the country; about the myriad voices of nature (nightingales included) being borne to the city street. About the voice of the leaders of thought or action coming to the fireside; the news of the world at the ear of the rustic... About pronouncements and discussions fraught with grave portent being heard by millions of men and women throughout the world; the facts of great issues... put directly and clearly before them; a return of the City-State of old

the amenities of the town being carried to the country; about the myriad voices of nature (nightingales included) being borne to the city street. About the voice of the leaders of thought or action coming to the fireside; the news of the world at the ear of the rustic... About pronouncements and discussions fraught with grave portent being heard by millions of men and women throughout the world; the facts of great issues... put directly and clearly before them; a return of the City-State of old

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