Leading Rather Than Pandering To Public Opinion

In a post on the Guardian’s TV&Radio blog, Mark Hooper argues that the TV networks like the BBC should stop pandering to public opinion and start leading it. Hooper says:

I think Lord Reith would be more concerned with is the BBC’s pandering to public opinion. The corporation he helped to mould would have had no truck with committee by focus group. It should be Aunty Beeb’s job to tell us what’s good for us, because we don’t know. We’re not experts; we’re viewers. But the TV expert is now an ever dwindling species.

Now, everywhere we look in public life – from the government to our subsidised TV channels – experts have been replaced by the average man in the street. Consensus is deemed more important than original, challenging thought. They may seem unlikely bedfellows, but one can’t help thinking Lord Reith would side with former Sex Pistol John Lydon, who sneered about the opinions of “the man on the street”.

Slightly related: it reminds us about using classic market research for new ideas in business. A pointless exercise PSFK believes.

Guardian Unlimited