House of Lords Select Committee on Communications report: A privatised future for Channel 4? Carolyn Jackson-Brown – written evidence (SCF0006): ownership question section c)

The core of the Paralympics success was that the media coverage was able to normalise some forms of disability, engaging a previously sidelined group with a wider audience. The coverage did so through C4C taking creative risks. Presenting new and untried representations in the interests of any marginalised group will never be efficient or necessarily commercially viable. Therefore, it may be the case that high-risk ground-breaking programming, like the London 2012 Paralympic Games coverage, would become a thing of the past, if Channel Four were privatised. My research findings establish a direct link between risk-taking, organisational power and C4C’s unique funding mechanism. Freedom to take non-commercially viable risks was actively operated during the production of the Paralympic Games coverage, and if this autonomy is not preserved, some marginalised groups will lose the inclusive programming that currently gives them a voice and a profile in wider society. Public ownership seems fundamental and central to the continuation of this role.