“First, I have to start with an apology, we’ve spotted a mistake in the report… has anyone else spotted it yet?”
As far as agenda-setting Government launches go, Lord Carter’s opening gambit to the press pack at the RSA as he unveiled Digital Britain this week was far from reassuring.
What followed can best be described as a cagey preamble on some of the report’s key findings, delivered by someone who already seemed painfully aware of its own shortcomings.
At one point a member of the press read out a quite ludicrous sentence, overly complicated and full of disclaimers, and used it to question claims the report was clear and transparent.
“Yes, that could have been written better, so full marks for spotting that,” came Carter’s concise, sarcastic reply.
At another point, when asked for the second time to clarify the report’s recommendations regarding top-slicing the BBC licence fee to help ITV’s regional news, a weary Carter said he would be counting the “number of column inches” the BBC gave to the rest of the report, in the interests of fair and balance coverage.
Mildly amusing, it raised a titter, but hardly fair. The changes Digital Britain describes in its Public Service Content chapter pave the way for the first major overhaul of BBC funding in its 87 year history, you could understand the interest.
For Carter to become so exasperated so quickly offered some indication as to the many hours the creation of the final White Paper had already stolen from his life.
Another pesky member of the press pack launched into an attack on the Government’s plans for a universal 2Mb connection speed by 2012, surely it’s not enough and already behind the curve?
You’ve misunderstood, replied a patient Carter. He went on to blame his own “failure to communicate” that the 2Mb had been set as a minimum level, to ensure the pockets of the country currently without any decent service would not be handicapped or overlooked in the future. And so it went on.
The inglorious launch was actually the perfect precursor to what was to follow in the press the next day. “Digital dithering” cried the Telegraph, “Digi or dodgy?” asked The Mirror, while others like the Daily Express simply warned “Now a Tax on Every Phone”.
Of course, there were positives to come out of the report, not least the Government’s backing of a DAB radio network by 2015. The decisive move could be just what the industry needs to kick-start its new path in the digital age – let’s not mention internet-based alternative models for now.
Elsewhere, Digital Britain went as far as it could – not even the current Labour Party can force BBC Worldwide and Channel 4 to reach a partnership agreement – but the wheels have been well and truly greased and the train is now rolling.
But still, in the short-term Carter’s toils have been largely thankless and cannot really be judged until much further down the line.
I was not surprised to also learn this week that far from rejoining the fray at ITV, as suggested, the Lord now plans to leave his public life for the sunshine of Australia.
