When Channel 4 launched it was a new kind of public service broadcaster. Its purpose was to be ‘innovative’, ‘experimental’ and, above all, ‘distinctive’ – qualities which almost from the moment it went on air inspired rapture and wrath in equal measure, as they still do today. And it was those same qualities that put it right at the heart of the titanic social revolution which has since transformed Britain, making it more diverse, tolerant, and creative – but at the same time a harsher place in which self-reliance and ‘attitude’ have become not only virtues, but necessities.
From a single channel with only three competitors, Channel 4 has become a 24/7 multi-channel, multi-platform media business, fighting its corner in a market of 500 TV channels and the tsunami of change unleashed by the internet. But its core purpose has remained the same and continues to bring something unique and uniquely valuable to the public life of Britain – it provides room for the unexpected voice, the raw untried talent, the uncomfortable argument, the sceptical dissenting view. It celebrates the new. It moves the national conversation on. It consistently generates twice as many column inches in the national press as any other broadcaster. It goes on making a difference because it is different.
In This Chapter
- Introduction
- 25 Years On: How Life Got Shuffled by Niall Ferguson
- Gallery
Chapter Gallery
