BBC应大胆创新

In the aftermath of the London Olympics three months ago, there was a clearer consensus in favour of the BBC than at any time in the past 30 years. The financial crisis had freed the BBC from the neoliberal swaddle in which its critics sought to wrap it. No longer did it have to justify itself merely as the solution to failures in a market. Instead, the BBC could make its own case: that it made great programmes more widely available and less expensively than could be done via any other funding method. The Olympics made this theoretical argument real. The Leveson inquiry reminded Britain of the benefits of an impartial part of the media.

3个月前，伦敦奥运会结束后，人们达成更加明显的一致，对英国广播公司(BBC)的喜爱超过以往30年的任何时刻。金融危机使BBC摆脱了新自由主义的束缚，而其批评者一直试图用新自由主义淹没BBC。它不必再为自己辩护，证明自己不仅仅是市场失灵情况下的解决方案。相反，BBC可以证明自己的价值：BBC以更低的成本让其优秀节目为更多的人看到，通过任何其他筹资方式都做不到这样。奥运会使这一理论上的论据成真。莱韦森调查(Leveson Inquiry)使英国人意识到媒体公正性的重要性。

The next director-general must make the case for the BBC all over again. Critics, for example the FT’s Janan Ganesh, argue that it must become smaller and cheaper. But this neglects how, in today’s media, the BBC’s role is more important than ever. There is a great danger that it will reach for solutions that will make another egregious editorial mistake more likely rather than less.

下一任BBC总裁必须再次证明BBC的价值。评论人士如英国《金融时报》的嘉南·加内什(Janan Ganesh)辩称，BBC必须变得更小，更廉价。但这种观点没有注意到，在今天的媒体中，BBC的作用比以往更加重要。如果最后达成的方案不仅没有减少、反而增加了再次出现异乎寻常的社评错误的几率，那这样的改变就存有极大的隐患。

We are approaching a world in which the BBC may be as much an editor as a broadcaster – our guide to the best of culture, debate, news and entertainment. The iPlayer has positioned the BBC to become that editor but the potential for it to be a trusted guide and the changes that it will need to make to its programmes are only just starting to be explored.

我们正进入这样一个世界，BBC既是编辑者，也是广播者——是带领我们领略最佳文化、辩论、资讯和娱乐的向导。iPlayer让BBC成为这样的编辑者，但它成为可信任向导的潜力才刚刚开始发掘，其节目所需要的调整也才刚刚开始探索。

In this new world, opinion is cheap. Free, even. Truth, on the other hand, is expensive. When Twitter can wrongly identify people as cruelly and stupidly and quickly as this, we need a standard we can trust. When many newspapers mix up editorialising and news, we need information we know has been checked. When everyone is a blogger, we need to know what is important. That’s why we need the BBC more than ever and why these mistakes have been so damaging.

在这个崭新的世界中，观点是廉价的，甚至是免费的。另一方面，真相十分昂贵。当Twitter能够如此残酷、愚蠢又迅速地错指他人，我们需要一个能够信任的标准。当很多报纸把社评与资讯混在一起时，我们需要知道我们所需的信息已经被审查过了。当每个人都是博主，我们必须知道什么才是重要的。所以我们比以往任何时候更加需要BBC，所以这些错误才会产生如此严重的破坏。

We have been here before. Twenty years ago, a new director-general, John Birt, took over. One of his predecessors had been forced to resign, the BBC was under pressure from a Tory government, with many in it pushing for privatisation. Some shows were so stale it was hard to see why they got any public money.

我们以前就经历过这种情况。20年前，约翰·伯特(John Birt)成为BBC的新任总裁。他的前任之一被迫辞职，保守党政府向BBC施压，政府内的很多人推动BBC私有化。BBC的部分节目非常陈旧，以至于人们认为这些节目根本没有资格获得任何公共资金的支持。

Over the next decade, the BBC was saved by Lord Birt’s boldness. (Disclosure: between 1995 and 1997, I was its head of corporate planning.) It would have been easy to play it safe, to avoid mistakes, lest they incense the BBC’s enemies. But instead, it reviewed its programmes, transforming Radio 1 as well as its output of drama and entertainment.

在接下来10年，伯特的大胆拯救了BBC。（透露一下：1995-1997年间，我担任BBC企业规划部门主管。）稳扎稳打、避免错误是很容易做到的，也可避免激怒BBC的敌人。但伯特没有这样做。相反，他领导下的BBC重新审核节目，改革Radio 1及其戏剧和娱乐节目制作。

Rather than wait and see what the internet would bring, as ITV essentially did, the BBC rode the wave of a country surfing online. As people got an internet subscription, the BBC was there. As they bought their Sky dish, the BBC was there.

BBC没有像英国独立电视台(ITV)那样坐视互联网带来的变化，而是激流勇进，抓住互联网浪潮席卷全国的机会。当人们开始在网上订阅节目时，能找到BBC的节目。当人们开始购买“卫星锅(Sky dish)时，也能收到BBC的节目。

The next director-general needs to learn from the 1990s. That means rebuilding relationships with government, business and, most importantly, the public. It means ensuring the whole organisation can live the BBC’s values of trustworthiness and integrity. It means becoming the best place in the world to make programmes. It means building a cohesive team at the top of the organisation.

下一位总裁必须吸取20世纪90年代的经验。这意味着重建与政府、企业，以及最重要的公众之间的关系。这意味着保证整个BBC能够践行BBC诚信正直的价值观。这意味着把BBC打造成世界上第一流的节目制作机构。这意味着在BBC高层打造具有凝聚力的团队。

But it also means renewal. The BBC has been living off its 1990s’ strategy – be everywhere, have channels and websites for everyone. The risk now is that it has an employee for everyone, too. The corporation should not confuse a change of personnel and a few new squares on an organigram with a renewal of its strategy and output.

但这也意味着创新。BBC一直依赖于20世纪90年代的战略——无处不在，无所不包，让频道和网站满足每个人的需求。现在，这种战略的风险是，每位用户都要配备一名员工。BBC不应把战略和节目的创新，与人事变动和在组织结构中添加几个部门相混淆。

Does the BBC really need another structural overhaul? The problem with such changes is that you start off with a structure that could be better and you end up with one that could also be better. Meanwhile, you spend years with jostling managers taking their eye off the programmes.

BBC真的需要发起新一轮结构重组吗？采取这种变革的问题是，你着手改组的结构有改进的空间，但改组完成以后，仍有改进的空间。同时，你花了数年之功与管理者争权夺利，把他们的注意力从节目上转移开来。

Does the BBC need another management layer between the director-general and programme makers, as some have suggested? The case for a separate editor-in-chief rests on the idea that George Entwistle resigned as director-general because it was impossible for him to monitor all the BBC’s output.

BBC需要像某些人建议的那样，在总裁和节目制作者之间增加一个管理层吗？增加独立总编辑的理由是，乔治·恩特威斯尔(George Entwistle)之所以辞职，是因为不可能监督BBC的所有节目。

But this kind and talented man resigned of management failings, not editorial ones: failing to get a grip in a crisis and losing control of his public relations.

但实际上，这位善良而有才华的人是因为管理失败而辞职的，而非编辑事务上的失败：在危机中手足无措，对公共关系失去控制。

Ultimately, the tragedy is not about the BBC, or any institution.

最终，悲剧与BBC无关，与任何体制无关。

It is about the terrible suffering of a group of young people, over many years, and a culture that was complicit in its perpetuation.

悲剧的根源在于多年以来年轻人群体遭受的可怕摧残，在于根深蒂固的有害文化。

The reasons why the BBC was the solution to Leveson have not disappeared. These have been a terrible few weeks. But the BBC has had crises like this before, and its own history teaches it how it can now recover, through courageous journalism and bold strategy.

BBC之所以能成为莱韦森事件之解的原因没有消失。最近这几周很可怕。但BBC以前就经历过这样的危机，BBC自身的历史教导它，如何凭借勇敢的资讯主义和大胆战略复苏。

The writer is a former UK secretary of state for culture, media and sport

本文作者是英国前文化、媒体及体育大臣