8 The history of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), the world’s oldest national broadcaster, is the subject of Simon J. Potter’s This is the BBC: Entertaining the Nation, Speaking for Britain? 1922-2022 (320 pgs., Oxford University Press, 2022, $27.95). This is the BBC presents an unauthorized yet astute critical analysis that was released in time to celebrate the centenary of the national broadcaster in2022. Potter discusses the overall arc of the BBC, beginning with its origins and how it established itself as an institution for the public to turn to for news and entertainment. In following the corporation across 100 years, he also shows how the broadcaster and its programming responded to historical events of the time, from World War II to the Cold War to the present moment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Potter moves closer to the present, he is also keen to discuss the current financial problems the BBC is facing. By presenting a long view of the national broadcaster, Potter can put these pressing issues in context for the reader and suggest how they might relate to the past. Potter is a professor of Modern History at the University of Bristol, with a research focus on British media. He has written a variety of books, scholarly articles, and reviews. His previous books include News and British World: The Emergence of an Imperial Press System, 1876-1922 and Broadcasting Empire: the BBC and the British World, 19221970, among others. His latest book continues to see him build on his work on the cultural history and impact of the BBC. The first iteration of the BBC began on October 18, 1922, when the British Broadcasting Company was formed, and the following month, on November 14, it broadcast its first radio program, during which Arthur Burrows, one of the earliest employees of the BBC, gave the news and a weather report. Britain has a unique radio broadcasting system in comparison to the development of U.S. radio broadcasters. In Britain, the BBC is regulated by the state, and from its first days, as Potter remarks, “was to be funded by royalties paid on sales of radio receiving sets, and by a 10-shilling annual listener license fee to be paid by all households possessing a receiver.” This was done, in part, to counter a large number of competing stations that were sure to crop up, as was the case in the U.S. The early days of the BBC differed also in that “politics and current affairs were largely absent from the Company’s broadcast schedules”, writes Potter. Many hurdles were passed just to get the company up and running, and it was thought that adding in controversial topics to programming might cause more headaches. By the end of 1926, however, the company was dissolved and its assets were re-established under the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Basically, it changed from “Company” to “Corporation.” Starting on January 1, 1927, the new iteration of the BBC began, operating under a royal charter and was helmed by director general John Reith, who would be the one to emphasize that the BBC’s role should be to “inform, educate, entertain.” Despite its close association with the government,theBBCacquiredareputationfor delivering the news honestly and truthfully, gainingthetrustof itslisteners intheprocess. This trust would be vital as World War II came around, when broadcasters in other European countries became more obviously biased to their respective governments’ interests. Nevertheless, Potter comments that “[t]he wartime news carried by BBC services for domestic and overseas listeners could not be regarded as objective. It carried implicit and explicit persuasive messages and was ultimately understood, certainly by British civil servants and BBC officers, as a form of propaganda.” Throughout the book, Potter reminds the reader of the BBC’s intimate relationship with the government and how it’s been used as a tool to exert its soft power around the world. Potter spends time outlining the transformations and shifts in the BBC’s focus in the post-war years. “Perhaps the most important theme running through the BBC’s century is its in-built institutional drive to expand and survive”, he notes. As Potter shows, the BBC’s several reinventions consisted of expansions to its programming, from children’s programming to political commentary, as well as its increased scope in national and global markets. With This is the BBC, Potter lays out a far-reaching and detailed account of the world’s oldest national broadcaster. He offers a nuanced approach to tracking the transformations and challenges the BBC has undergone. He concludes by suggesting that what is at stake is its future. Potter points out the BBC’s current financial problems and its position in a changing media environment, and he recommends: “Anyone who cares about what we read, watch, and listen to, on television, radio, or online, should think about what life would be like without the BBC, and about how the Corporation might, in the future, find new and better ways to serve all our needs.” Historian Simon J. Potter provides a comprehensive record of how the BBC has changed over the last 100 years. The BBC at 100: How the Broadcaster Reported the News and Shaped the World January 2023 Book Review By Luis Polanco “Despite its close association with the government, the BBC acquired a reputation for delivering the news honestly and truthfully, gaining the trust of its listeners.”
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