Last week (11-20 March 2005) was the UK's National Science Week. It's, therefore, a bit ironic that, despite its public good/education brief, we find that the BBC can't find the funding to support The Naked Scientists. The Naked Scientists is (or is that was?) a project which, among other activities, produces a weekly live radio programme which is syndicated through parts of the BBC regional radio network. Note the emphasis on parts and regional.
The web site also offers an impressive archive of past programmes with MP3 downloads.
Although the Naked Scientists' activities have been supported by the Royal Society and Cambridge University the grant covered only travel costs and those of the NS programme guests; the team give their time for nothing. The BBC, whilst apparently happy to offer limited regional synidication of the programme produced by the NS team, have proved less willing to contribute to ongoing production costs. The original grant funding is now coming to an end and, as a result, what should be an important contribution to the public understanding of science looks like it's going to bite the dust.
In a previous Auricle article Probing Podcasting from the Professionals I highlighted how such regional programming forces initiatives such as The Naked Scientists below the radar for most of us. It's possible to compensate for this when other forms of dissemination and distribution are also used, e.g. what we now know as podcasting. However, despite offering MP3 downloads (albeit as zips which makes them podcast unfriendly), the Naked Scientists haven't yet, and now may never, tuned into the podcasting alternative.
What's a bit surprising is the BBC's apparent lack of enthusiam for grass roots initiatives such as this. They have effectively been getting a weekly science programme for nothing. Their recent Charter Review signals probably the last time that the usual arguments justifying the tax on the British public we call the Television Licence will hold sway. The corporation is going to have to go through a rapid transformation in much less than the decade before the next Charter Review. Of particular note, is that the BBC has been told to stop chasing ratings and to put it's 'public good' mission first.
Despite the above, it's interesting, however, to reflect on what the BBC's attitude to funding would have been if The Naked Scientists had been offering a 'reality' show complete with displays of celebrities' body parts or other personal physical/psychological/social relevations.
Perhaps one of the problems is that the mainstream broadcasters have difficulty in coping with productions which come from left field? Whilst most broadcasters make a nod to community participation in production by offering 3-5 minute special interest slots in their busy schedules they seem to have more difficulty in allocating the time for full programmes.
I suspect that the mainstream broadcasters are hobbled by the same mindset as the big record companies and, increasingly, their software company partners. The latter resolutely ignores the independent music sector whilst they continue to focus on methods of distributing the outputs of their stable of mainstream artists and restricting the rights of their consumers via their multifarious digital rights systems which 'lock', 'block', or 'clock'.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the independent music sector begins to develop its own distribution channels and communities. Much the same is beginning to happen to radio since relative modest investment is necessary to produce and distribute 'radio' programmes via the internet. Ok, some of these productions are of variable quality, but some are as good as you will hear on broadcast radio or are good enough for the needs of their audiences. On the video and television front, it's even likely that that, within the next few years, independent production companies could be offering their outputs via the internet.
So my advice to The Naked Scientists? There is already an alternative to the traditional broadcast model and most of us who are using time shifting devices ain't listening to the programme live anyway. And the BBC? Come on, this isn't going to cost you a fortune and you could then use this type of involvment as part of the justification for why at least a variant of the Licence Fee should continue at your next Charter Review.
It would be a real shame to see The Naked Scientists left exposed like this.
