The BBC and the Ross-Brand Affair: Public Service Broadcasting and New Populism in the Twenty First Century
Michael Tracey

Abstract
The paper examines the condition of public service broadcasting in the 21st century by considering the meaning and implications of a particularly controversial programme broadcast by the BBC in 2008, one that drew enormous public and political criticism. The paper suggests that rather than being an unfortunate aberration the incident revealed significant changes that are taking place both within the BBC and the wider society and culture. It suggests that this can be seen not just within this particular programming incident, but within the shifting ways in which the nature of public service broadcasting is articulated both inside and outside the BBC.

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