The “Socially Useful” in Public Broadcasting
Between Idealism and Utilitarianism – the Griersonian Element in a Tradition

"The paper contains a discussion of the concept the socially useful in connection with broadcasting and especially in relationship to public service broadcasting. Tracing the concept back to John Reith’s influential book Broadcast over Britain from 1924, written on the background of the author’s experiences in establishing the BBC, the paper introduces a less known source for the establishing of the kind of standards that have come to be linked to the idea of broadcasting programming as socially useful activity in the person of John Grierson, pioneer of the British documentary movement. The paper makes a comparison of the underlying social philosophy of the two Scots, claiming that Grierson´s role may have been underestimated when taking into the account how the documentary film practices of the BBC can be traced directly to the influence of the British documentary movement of the 30s and 40s." [Information des Anbieters]