The Government’s scrapping of the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has drawn applause from some sources but also questions from others who ask whether reform rather than removal might have been the better course. I agree, the broadcasting environment in which the BSA was set up to deal with has changed significantly, but the wider online communications market that has largely replaced it still needs to be regulated in some way and some degree of oversight provided. The self-regulation mantra might work for some, but the problem we face is far greater than many are willing to admit.

I commented earlier today on a comment made by someone in response to Bryce Edwards’ post on LinkedIn, questioning the decision to scrap the BSA without considering alternatives, not to mention reform of the body.

In my view, all too often with these conversations, we find ourselves talking past each other and picking over the symptoms rather than focusing on the causes. As Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales recently pointed out, while social media gets blamed for the deterioration of public discourse and growing mistrust we have in many liberal democracies, ours included,  the real problem lies in the systems amplifying outrage, and the platforms that enable it and have monetised the whole process. To this, I would add the bad actors who are using the lack of guardrails or oversight to undermine societies like ours. This is the elephant in the room that we have to confront. As I see it, the sooner we have a proper conversation about this the better.