英国社会与文化_2000字论文.doc

British Broadcasting Corporation and Its Reflection of British Society and Culture 外国语学院2012级8班 高婷 学号：20120534054 Abstract:British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcasting corporation. Its service fields including television, radio, news, internet and music, etc. We all know that it has a tremendous influence in Britain, even in the whole world. For Chinese English learner, BBC is an important channel to get to the native English, but what we can learn from it are far more than that. Therefore in this paper I will give a brief introduction of British Broadcasting Corporation and the British society and culture that reflect from it. Besides that, I will compare the condition of Chinese media and BBC, and give my own conclusion. Key Words: BBC Society Culture1. The condition of British Broadcasting CorporationAlmost everyone had ever heard the name of British Broadcasting Corporation in the world. To most Chinese students, BBC may be just a symbol of English media. Do you know the basic information of this large-scale cooperation? The main responsibility of BBC is to provide impartial public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. It is the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with about 23,000 staff. The BBC is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London and has major production centers in big cities like Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow, etc. Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London, is the official headquarters of the BBC. The BBC is sometimes referred to by other British media as Auntie or the Beeb. 1.1 The history of BBCThe privately owned BBC was the worlds first national broadcasting organization. It was founded on 1922 by the British General Post Office (GPO). From then on, the BBC monopoly on radio services would persist into the 1970s, and it was praised for the quality and range of its output. Starting in 1964, the BBC reorganized and renamed their radio channels, for example, Radio 1 offering continuous Popular music and Radio 2 more Easy Listening. Radio 3 offering classical music and cultural programming. Radio 4 offering news, and non-musical content such as quiz shows, readings, dramas. Experimental television broadcasts were started in 1932-channel BBC1. Later, the BBC has experimented in high-definition television.In 1969, the BBC Enterprises department was formed to exploit BBC brands and programmers for commercial spin-off products. In 1979 it became a wholly owned limited company, BBC Enterprises Ltd.During this decade, the corporation began to sell off a number of its operational divisions to private ownersFrom 2000 to present, BBC has also experienced many staff and finance cuts.1.2 The governance of BBC The BBC is a corporation, independent from direct government intervention, with its activities being overseen by the BBC Trust (formerly the Board of Governors). General management of the organization is in the hands of a Director-General, who is appointed by the Trust; he is the BBCs Editor-in-Chief and chairs the Executive Board.There are some strange terms you may not hear of. Whats BBC Trust? Whats executive board? The BBC Trust was formed on 1 January 2007, replacing the Board of Governors as the governing body of the Corporation. The Trust sets the strategy for the corporation, assesses the performance of the BBC Executive Board in delivering the BBCs services, and appoints the Director-General. BBC Trustees are appointed by the British monarch on advice of government ministers. There are currently ten trustees with two vacancies. The Executive Board is responsible for operational management and delivery of services within a framework set by the BBC Trust. The executive board is made up of the Director General as well as the head of each of the main BBC divisions.1.3 The corporate structure of BBC The Corporation is headed by Director Generals office, which has overall control of the management and running of the BBC. Below this is the BBC Direction Group, which deals with inter departmental issues and any other tasks which the Executive board has delegated to it. Below the BBC Direction Group are seven departments covering all the BBCs output. Now, Id like to illustrate some major departments: BBC Vision is in charge of BBC Television, BBC Audio & Music is in charge of BBC Radio and music content across the BBC, BBC Future Media is in charge of all digital output, such as BBC Online. Besides that, I must mention one important part of BBC-the Royal Carter. The BBC operates under a Royal Charter, with the current Charter having come into effect on 1 January 2007. The Royal Charter is reviewed every 10years. The 2007 Charter specifies that the mission of the Corporation is to inform, educate and entertain. It states that the Corporation exists to serve the public interest and to promote its public purposes: sustaining citizenship and civil society, promoting education and learning, stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK, helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services. From all above we can find that Royal Charter is really important to BBC, since it regulate the principles of BBC.2. The reflection of British society and culture Someone had ever said that media is one country mirror. From the perspective of culture, media give ordinary people the chance of touching the latest cultural trend, and helping people improve the metal state. From the perspective of society, I think every country have some dark sides, media has the responsibility to expose these dark sides and make their society become a better one. Therefore we can say media is a good way to understand the tradition, ordinary peoples living condition and social morality of one country. There are many media forms in the UK, and we can say BBC is among the most influential media. Until the development, popularization, and domination of television, radio was the broadcast medium upon which people in the United Kingdom relied. It reached into every home in the land, and simultaneously united the nation, an important factor during the Second World War. It was the only television broadcaster in the UK until 1955. Even since the advent of commercial television and radio, the BBC has remained one of the main elements in British popular culture through its obligation to produce TV and radio programmes for mass audiences. For foreign listeners, BBC may be also the most representative media in the UK. The term BBC English is sometimes used as an alternative name for Received Pronunciation, and the English Pronouncing Dictionary uses the term BBC Pronunciation for its recommendations.2.1 The liberal voice and spirit of ordinary people The position of BBC is somewhat similar with CCTV in China, so some people may think that BBC is host by English government. But the answer may astonish you. Within the United Kingdom its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee, which is charged to all British households, companies and organizations using any type of equipment to receive live television broadcasts. The level of the fee is set annually by the British Government and agreed by Parliament. Thats to say, the operation of BBC is relay on the fees that charged from ordinary people. By this way, BBC can against the control and influence of government to a great extent. The audience and listener can also get away from the annoying commercials, because BBC does not need to get fund from them. Therefore, BBC can represent the benefit of ordinary people, and become the liberal voice of them. I think these features of BBC have created a democratic and liberal social phenomenon for British people. Some anthropologists hold the view that the character of British people has some points of loving freedom, rigorous and self- respect. The form of their character must have some relation with this social phenomenon. They can express their attitude towards one thing freely as long as do not counter national interest. And they can know the truth of one thing, because they have a strong media. Not only the BBC, but also many other media corporations are privately runned to some extent, such as: Reuters. They help Britain become a more democratic country.2.2 A country with global view and competitiveness Some people may think that English people are the synonym of conservative and arrogant. They had ever been the most developed country in the world, and they still stick to the view that they can create greater glories. But we cant deny that English people have a global view and a sense of competitiveness. We have mentioned that basically BBC does not rely on commercials to seek fund. But it does not mean that it hasnt other ways to win benefit and ensure its quality. BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC responsible for the commercial exploitation of BBC programmes and other properties, including a number of television stations throughout the world. Many of you may had ever heard of the famous BBC worldwide service. The BBC World Service is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, more commonly known as the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad.By this way, BBC has occupied overseas market. For example, the channel BBC Entertainment shows current and archive entertainment programming to viewers in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with the BBC Worldwide channels BBC America and BBC Canada showing similar programming in the North America region. BBC Worldwide also distributes the 24-hour international news channel BBC World News. The station is separate from BBC Worldwide to maintain the stations neutral point of view, but is distributed by BBC Worldwide. After marching into American market, the position of CNN was greatly threatened by BBC From the managing mode of BBC, we can find the character of competitiveness in British national character and cultural tradition. Although the first countries to explore “New World” are Spain and France, etc, Britain didnt miss the historical opportunities. British people also have the spirit of competitiveness. Some great inventions such as steam engine were first appeared in this country, which contribute to the first industrial revolution, and bring a change to the whole world. Britain is an island country, but its view had never been restricted into a small territory. Otherwise it cant become a strong power in the world.3. The differences between BBC and Chinese media As a Chinese person, when I talk about BBC, I cant help think of Chinese media. As the counterpart of BBC, CCTV is the predominant state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV is accessible to more than one billion viewers. China Central Television falls under the supervision of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television which is in turn subordinate to the Sta