Caitriona Noonan

Cultural work and higher education

Over the last few decades, policy-makers have been busy in the fields of cultural industries and higher education (HE), as both undergo significant changes in an era of globalization, economic instability and austerity agendas. However, there has been a marked difference in the ways in which both these spheres have responded to the opportunities and challenges that they currently face. Despite ambiguities in their definition (Galloway and Dunlop, 2007), the cultural industries, or more accurately their partial political successor, the creative industries, have emerged as one of the most celebrated sectors of the UK economy (Confederation of British Industry, 2010). With strong, albeit controversial (Garnham, 2005; Tremblay, 2011), growth figures reported, these industries have been reframed and endorsed as part of a new knowledge economy for a digital society.1 As a result, the sector is often framed as a panacea to numerous and often disparate financial and social ills, including economic development, urban regeneration and remedying social inequalities. At this moment, HE in the UK seems to lie on the other end of the spectrum of political taste.

The BBC and decentralisation: the pilgrimage to Manchester

This research critically analyses the decentralisation of the BBC’s Department of Religion and Ethics, from its base in London to the office of BBC Manchester in 1994. It examines the rationale behind the BBC’s decision to move this production unit, and analyses the long-term impact of this policy on both the logistics and programme-making culture of the unit. Using interviews with staff working within the department at the time of the move, this research demonstrates how policy decisions such as this are negotiated by professionals within the Corporation and the conflicts which arise around efficiency and equality. The case of the Department of Religion and Ethics also provides important lessons for the future decentralisation of BBC departments to Salford Quays which is due to be implemented in 2011.

‘Big stuff in a beautiful way with interesting people’: The spiritual discourse in UK religious television

This article critically examines changes in the style and tone of religious broadcasting. Increasingly, a discourse of spirituality and faith is used by television producers to describe and discuss their output, as these are seen as less contentious and more audience-friendly ways of promoting faith-based programming. However, these themes continue to be framed within a recognizable set of religious traditions, mainly Christian. Combining interviews with producers and analysis of the BBC series Extreme Pilgrim (2008), this article examines the representation of spirituality as it is visualized and narrated. It analyses how this representation challenges traditional religious institutions, the new role it creates for broadcasters within lifestyle television, and discusses whether this subjective position can be conveyed authentically through the medium of television. The future of religious broadcasting rests on finding sustainable formats, yet these lifestyle formats offer distinct challenges in relation to their successful production and reproduction.

Professional mobilities in the creative industries: The role of “place” for young people aspiring for a creative career

Within creative industries policy, two themes have been situated as central to the needs of the creative economy: the economic importance of place and the role of education in delivering a better-equipped workforce. However, these themes have rarely overlapped in either policy thinking or academic research, and so this article focuses on the relationship between place, education and professional aspirations for young people. Using the findings from qualitative interviews with media studies students within higher education (HE), this article analyses how the perceived attributes of some locations may provide industry credibility and the promise of enhanced professional mobility. It examines the tangible and symbolic value of place within young peoples career development in the creative industries. The findings highlight how the links between place and education can influence the professional process, and how place shapes young peoples perceptions of and opportunities for work in the creative industries. Finally, this research emphasises how current theories on creative industries policy and HE provision need to be extended to take greater account of the ways in which the attributes of localities can be used as a catalyst for individual professionalism amongst young people, and the ways in which certain places (mainly rural) may be disadvantaged in the current policy trajectory.

From Cultural Studies to Impact Factor: Media and Communication Research in the United Kingdom

Dieses Kapitel analysiert die Entwicklung der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft im Vereinigten Konigreich. Im ersten Teil werden Hauptmerkmale der historischen Entwicklung der Kommunikationswissenschaft auf der Insel herausgearbeitet. Im folgenden Abschnitt wird die Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft in die stark neoliberal gepragte britische Wissenschaftslandschaft eingeordnet. Der politische Fokus auf Impactfaktoren und spezifische Evaluierungsformen wissenschaftlichen Erfolgs werden ebenfalls diskutiert. Der sogenannte „practice turn“ dient als Beispiel fur die direkte Einflussnahme politischer Entscheidungen auf das Forschungsfeld. Die Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft im Vereinigten Konigreich beschaftigte sich in ihren Anfangen mit wichtigen gesellschaftlichen Fragen. Die Veranderungen in der Hochschulpolitik der letzten Jahre erschweren es ForscherInnen mehr und mehr, innovative Projekte auserhalb der vorgegebenen Bahnen durchzufuhren.

Piety and professionalism: The BBC's changing religious mission (1960–1979)

This research focuses on two decades in the BBCs relationship with religion as an area of programming. The 1960s and 1970s marked a period of massive social change in Britain in which traditional religious institutions were challenged relentlessly and a more religiously diverse society emerged. This makes it a significant time to examine the BBCs response and the impact these changes had on the culture of production within the Corporation. This research asks how did the BBC frame the making of religious programmes within the changing socio-political context and how did their changing religious mission sit within the Corporations wider strategic aims? Religious broadcasting also offers a unique microcosm within which to view the changing professional culture of the BBC itself. To address these interests this research uses documents from the BBCs written archive and accounts from staff involved with the genre at the time.

Breaking the generic mould?: Grayson Perry, Channel 4 and the production of British arts television

This article examines Channel 4’s critically acclaimed series, Grayson Perry: Who Are You? (2014). Using interviews with those involved in making the series and textual analysis, we argue that the elements that contributed to the success of the series are inherently difficult to replicate due to the political economy of contemporary television production, thereby threatening the sustainability of the genre. However, while arts television rarely constitutes a commercial success in a traditional ratings sense, we outline the strategic value of the genre in contributing to Channel 4’s identity as Britain’s alternative public service broadcaster.

Small is beautiful? The salience of scale and power to three European cultures of TV production:

As television production becomes increasingly global, television studies must advance its understanding of how the global and the local intersect and impact upon the cultures of production. Drawing on original comparative research of three small European nations – Denmark, Ireland and Wales – this article offers empirical insights into the distinct challenges and opportunities for non-Anglophone producers and public service broadcasters (PSBs). The concept of small nations is employed critically to reveal how distinctions of scale and power make a tangible difference to how television is produced and distributed, and to how smaller, national PSBs are trying to secure a sustainable future.

'Not a museum piece': Exploring the 'special' occupational culture of religious broadcasting in Britain

Religion is often regarded as posing a distinct challenge to the occupational norms of cultural production and journalism due to its subjectivities and complexities. Based on research with staff involved in the production of content for BBC television and radio, this article explores the occupational context in which they work. In particular, it focuses on the experiences and strategies of the BBC’s Department of Religion and Ethics as it attempts to secure its survival as an autonomous production unit. This group of executives, producers, presenters and production staff are in many ways unique because of the professional and social role that they fulfil, most notably through the close historical and ideological ties between religion and the principles of public service. This research finds a distinct professional identity built around a fusion of public service logic and commercialism, along with the mobilization of specialist knowledge. This allows the department to symbolically and discursively separate itself from other actors in this field as it attempts to reinforce religious broadcasting’s professional distinctiveness at a crucial time in the survival of the unit and to highlight the uniqueness of religion as a topic within cultural production.

Smashing childlike wonder? The early journey into higher education

In the past decade, much government policy has centred on helping young people discover and nurture their creative talents and leverage these as possible career opportunities (Banks, 2007; Oakley, 2009). Documents like Creative Britain (Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 2008) prioritized the need for young people to develop creative talents at school and called for more structured pathways into creative careers. These ambitions were to be achieved through pilot programmes like ‘Find Your Talent’ and through better access to apprenticeships in the creative industries.1