“I want to remind people why we have the programmes in the first place. It’s about belief: making the best cultural experience more available is a social good. People [in the BBC] have woken, if not from a sleep, then from a nap.”. The BBC is to upgrade its coverage of the arts with changes to flagship programmes and a two-hour, prime-time slot on Saturdays. The BBC is to upgrade its coverage of the arts with changes to flagship programmes and a two-hour, prime-time slot on Saturdays.
The corporation will scrap its much-heralded Sunday night Art Zone – 90 minutes of arts documentaries and performances that has failed to establish a regular audience.Late Review, which after several years in a successful Thursday night slot was incorporated into the Art Zone, will now become part of an extended Newsnight on Friday nights, adding half an hour to the programme.

The segment will run for 50 weeks a year, and will be the first time Newsnight has taken on such a clear commitment to the arts.In addition, Later with Jools Holland, the music programme that has brought artists such as Moby to British audiences, will have a “ring-fenced” Friday slot at 11.30pm after Newsnight, rather than taking its chances at the end of the Saturday night schedule.These radical changes to programming are detailed by the new BBC arts chief, Roly Keating, in an interview in today’s media section of The Independent.Late Review, he says, “is a late-night programme and the critics on it are late-night people”. He says he is particularly pleased that the programme will now officially be a part of Newsnight.Significantly, Mr Keating’s arts producers will now be part of the Newsnight team, so they will be able to suggest far more coverage of arts news in addition to the usual coverage of politics and social affairs.One other key change will see Omnibus, BBC1’s arts documentary strand, being shared with BBC2 Indeed, most Omnibus editions will now be on BBC2. The move could raise eyebrows in the corporation as it had been said BBC1 would not drop Omnibus despite talk of the channel’s new remit to provide general entertainment.Mr Keating said that BBC1 would still present some Omnibus programmes when they had “a sense of the scale and excitement to feel like a national event”. But he agreed that Omnibus would more often be found on BBC2 in the future.* The BBC’s director general, Greg Dyke, told staff yesterday that spending on programmes by the end of the financial year 2002-03 would be £450m more than in 1999-200, an increase of 24 per cent.But in an address to mark the end of his first year in office, he also said that the corporation would have to continue to make savings elsewhere to help fund the increase in programme budgets.Mr Dyke said that cutting the number of management consultants had already saved the corporation £17m.Gerry Morrissey, assistant general secretary of the broadcasting union Bectu, gave a warning that standards would fall if there were more job cuts. He said: “We would oppose any reduction in jobs in theprogramme-making and technical areas as this would undoubtedly compromise the quality of programmes.”This move to cut more jobs is contradictory as Mr Dyke has asked for permission to have four new digital channels set up by the end of the year, which would make British programmes.”. The Press Complaints Commission is not usually what one thinks of as the height of glam.

Its chairman, Lord Wakeham, is not a natural for the pages of Vogue. Its director, Guy Black, is not one of London’s swingers, as far as we know Yet tomorrow the PCC will host the hottest party in town Prince Charles will be there Camilla Parker Bowles will be there Prince William will be there. Joanna Lumley, Geri Halliwell and Ali G are all on the guest list. The Press Complaints Commission is not usually what one thinks of as the height of glam. Its chairman, Lord Wakeham, is not a natural for the pages of Vogue. Its director, Guy Black, is not one of London’s swingers, as far as we know Yet tomorrow the PCC will host the hottest party in town Prince Charles will be there Camilla Parker Bowles will be there Prince William will be there. Joanna Lumley, Geri Halliwell and Ali G are all on the guest list.
Pity the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the PCC’s opposite number for television regulation.

Its drinks party tonight will be a small, unreported affair in the quiet of The Sanctuary, in Westminster. The PCC’s bash at Somerset House, on the other hand, is likely to be reported not just in every national paper, but in Hello! and OK!, the Court Circular and Smash Hits.How on earth did the 10th birthday drinks of a regulatory body become the hottest ticket in town? The answer is at first sight deceptively simple. The PCC has the rather endearing habit of inviting to its parties (this will be its third) people who have complained to it about the press. And complainants about the press may include a fair smattering of Joe Public; but increasingly they also include a fair smattering of A-list celebs.And so tomorrow, at the entrance to Somerset House, there will be the odd sight of paparazzi and reporters lined up to photograph and write about a bevvy of stars who are there only because they complained about being photographed and written about. Giving a historical perspective there will be Selina Scott, a complainant from days gone by, and more contemporary complainants will include Carol Vorderman, Coronation Street’s Tracey Shaw, Miss Halliwell and others.And, as if to spell out the glamorous nature of proceedings, a late entrant on the guest list is the fashion queen Donatella Versace Her presence is puzzling The woman hasn’t made so much as a verbal complaint. But she is a friend of the Prince of Wales.And there lies the answer to Wednesday’s glittering guest list.