Broadcasting and Film Policy, Year 1 and Year 4 (2000-2001; 2003-4)

Research in Year 1 will focus on an analysis and evaluation of the aims, objectives and likely consequences of the British Government's proposed new legislation on broadcasting and telecommunications. The work began with 'Broadcasting Citizens' Rights and Social Cohesion', a formal response to the White Paper 'A New Future for Communications'. Proposed changes in the regulatory system will be evaluated in relationship to public interest criteria and placed within an historical and comparative context. Research will seek to contribute to the public debate about cultural standards, cultural diversity and national identity. A seminar was held in April 2001 for colleagues in trhe academy, in industry and in the policy community.

Complementary research will be undertaken, in conjunction with the Community Media Association, into the programming policies, cultural identity and future prospects of local television stations holding restricted service licences.

In Year 4 (2003-4) research will be undertaken on contemporary film policy setting this in a broader historical and international context and assessing a variety of forms of state intervention in the industry including the creation of the new Film Council in 2000. Forms of public policy-led intervention in the national film industry will be compared with the various regulatory measures and public interest tests adopted for broadcasting and the new media.

The Indigenous and the Exportable in British Film and Televsion Culture, Years 1-5 (2000-2005)

This research has four main objectives:

(i) to analyse and evaluate longstanding and current debates about indigenous address and exportability in film and media;

(ii) to consider the concept of the indigenous in the context of global and rapidly changing media industries;

(iii) to assess the role and rationale of government in assisting audio-visual exports and in maintaining a strong and innovative indigenous audio-visual industry

(iv) to consider the feasibility and assess the value of assembling data sets of films and television programmes successful at home and abroad.

The main outcomes of this research will be an international conference, Trading Culture, and an edited book on the themes of the indigenous and the exportable in film and television culture. Topics will include the concept of the indigenous, the significance of the idea of 'the north' in British film and television culture, the role of American studios in the representation of British themes and the impact of world trade negotiations on patterns of cultural provision.

In general. the research will draw on the methods of textual and institutional analysis and will be informed by work in cultural history, business history and policy analysis.

Staff: Professor Sylvia Harvey (Principal Associate Director, AHRB Centre) with Senior Research Fellows: Professor Steve Neale and Paul Marris and with Visiting Senior Research Fellows: Simon Blanchard (2000-1) and Margaret Dickinson (2003-4). In addition, a Junior Research Fellow, Kathrein Guenther, was appointed to work on film policy in Year 4.

Post-graduate Training, 2002-4

It is proposed to run two training events for the Centre's post-graduate students. These are likely to take the form of residential 'summer schools' in July or September of 2002 and 2004. The purpose of the events is to introduce students to a range of research methods, drawing on the methodological richness and variety of the Centre's own research projects. It is envisaged that Centre members, together with other colleagues in the field, will present this material and that the schools will provide a rare and intense opportunity for the exchange of ideas between students and staff.

It is hoped that the second training event might be made more widely available to research students beyond the seven institutions making up the Centre partnership.

Resources

Centre resources allocated to these areas of work include:

(i) three x one year Senior Research Fellowships; these Fellowships are likely to take the form of six half year secondments or consultancies;

(ii) one x one year Junior Research Fellowship, with the probable share of an additional Junior Fellowship with the University of Ulster, with a research focus on televison history and policy;

(iii) support for an international conference on the theme of the indigenous and the exportable; this is likely to take place in the summer of 2002;

(iv) support for the provision of two post-graduate training schools for the Centre's doctoral students. It is hoped that the second of these events can be opened to research students from outside the Centre .

Research Outputs

The key outputs for these areas of work include two policy reports, one edited book on the issue of the indigenous and the exportable in British film and television culture, one international conference linked to the theme of the book and contribution to the planning of two post-graduate training events.

Film and broadcasting policy submissions have been made to a variety of public bodies.

Additional research funded by the European Social Fund on the UK's local television Restricted Service Licences was completed in May 2001 ('A Third Tier of Television').