Ident-ity politics
The BBC's main TV channel, BBC One, has introduced some new short clips for use as programme 'continuity'. The unifying theme is a circle: a circle of hippos swimming, cyclists riding round and round, and surfers dipping beneath a huge circular wave. They replace a series of films based on dancing, featuring a Bollywood musical, disabled wheelchair basketball and skateboarders amongst others.
Most of the criticism has been based on the cost of these clips, called 'idents' - around £2.25million by the time all 15 of these promo films have been completed. Luke Crawley from the broadcasting union Bectu, told the Guardian: 'The money spent on the new idents could have paid for at least 30 staff to help maintain BBC programme standards. It is the quality of the programmes that keeps the licence fee payers watching, not new channel idents.' There is plenty of corporate guff flowing to explain the films. Peter Fincham, controller of BBC One, said: 'We thought the circle had a resonance. We come together in circles to watch things so this feels like a symbol of togetherness.'
Trying to sum up a TV channel in a way that makes it seem funky and relevant to the present is one problem. Trying to do it for the state-funded broadcaster that in some way is supposed to embody what the nation is about is another matter. While the old idents symbolised diversity, the new ones don't seem to symbolise anything. Perhaps there is some continuity of thinking on these idents: if you don't really know what you represent, represent everything - or better still, nothing at all.