This Original and Fascinating Book examines the ways in which the BBC constructed and disseminated British national identity during the second quarter of the twentieth century. It is the first study that focuses on how the BBC, through its radio programs, tried to represent what it meant to be British. The book first considers the BBC's treatment of national, integrative institutions such as the empire and the monarchy, demonstrating the extent to which the BBC championed the British imperial ideal in its programs and constructed the monarchy as a symbol of Britain's unity and diversity. It then turns to the work of the BBC in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and explores the tensions between the BBC's efforts to create a unitary sense of Britishness and its commitment to regional broadcasting in these areas.
This volume offers a revision of histories of regional broadcasting in Britain that interpret it as a form of cultural imperialism. The author argues that the regional organization of the BBC, and the news and creative programming designed specifically for regional listeners, reinforced the cultural and historical distinctiveness of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The BBC anticipated, and perhaps encouraged, the development of the hybrid "dual identities" characteristic of contemporary Britain.
The BBC and national identity in Britain will be of interest to scholars and students of twentieth-century British history, British nationalism and national identity, British imperialism, mass media and media history, and the "four nations" approach to British history.
- Genre: History, Social Science
- Subgenre: Europe / Great Britain, Social History, Media Studies
- Publisher: Manchester Univ Pr
- Pages: 252
- Language: English
- Format: hardcover
- Release Date: January 15, 2011
- Date Published: January 15, 2011
- Author: Thomas Hajkowski