The Church shares the concerns of a range of organisations, including consumer bodies and health promotion groups, that suggest the blurring of the line currently separating editorial content from commercial messages is not in the interests of the public, and may damage trust in the integrity of broadcasters.
“Retaining trust in broadcasters’ integrity and editorial balance is key to maintaining strong relationships between audience and broadcaster, which in turn has both civic/societal and economic benefits,” argues the Church’s submission. “For this reason, the Church of England is opposed to changes to the current regulatory regime, even outside public service content and news and current affairs.”
Since when does the media in England try to separate editorial content from commercial messages? Most media in England apart from maybe the BBC is tabloid at best.
In any event, why is this a concern of the C of E?
I don’t disagree, but don’t understand why the Church has to say it. Surely this is pretty far down the list of concerns of the Christian community.
“In any event, why is this a concern of the C of E?”
Because product placement is advertising by another name; and the state-run BBC is supposed to eschew advertising because it is funded by an annual $210 tax on TV ownership. (In fact, the BBC is full of monopolistic advertising of its own products and is rife with BBC ‘product placement’.) The BBC is one of the sacred cows of the British liberal-left establishment. Most broadcasting in the UK is private and funded by advertising. It receives no help from the TV tax.
“The BBC is one of the sacred cows of the British liberal-left establishment”
I would have said that the BBC is also one of the Apis bulls of the British conservative-right.
There is enough product placement in the recent James Bond movies without our newsreaders sipping soft drinks and the weatherpersons wearing designer sunglasses.
Now, the church might be another matter – surely vestments would be a great place to advertise Alpha Courses or Bible translations, not to mention croziers incorporating the insignia of German car-manufacturers. Just think…and all those big blank redbrick walls in the center of town would be just fantastic as billboards…and then there is branding: Nokia St Pauls or the Microsoft Lambeth Palace.