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About David Elstein

David Elstein is currently Chairman of openDemocracy. He is also Chairman of the Broadcasting Policy Group. He is a director of Kingsbridge Capital Advisors, and a supervisory board member of two German cable companies.

He has also chaired Sparrowhawk Media, the British Screen Advisory Council, the Commercial Radio Companies Association, Really Useful Theatres, XSN plc, Sports Network Group, Silicon Media Group, Civilian Content plc and the National Film and Television School. He was also a director of Virgin Media Inc and Marine Track Holdings plc.

Previously he launched Channel 5 as its Chief Executive, worked for BSkyB as head of programming, was Director of Programmes at Thames Television, Managing Director of Primetime Productions and Managing Director of Brook Productions Ltd.

His career as a producer/director started at the BBC in 1964, and his production credits include The World At War, This Week, Panorama, Weekend World, A Week In Politics, Nosenko and Concealed Enemies. He has been a visiting professor at the universities of Westminster, Stirling and Oxford, having been the inaugural Visiting Professor in Broadcast Media at Oxford in 1999. His six lectures there were entitled "The Political Structure of UK Broadcasting 1949-99". He was the lead author of the Broadcasting Policy Group's 2004 publication, "Beyond The Charter: The BBC After 2006".

He has been external editor of the Media&Net theme of openDemocracy. 

Articles by David Elstein

Friday 27th January

Dancing around the inevitable: The Oxford Media Convention

David Elstein, 27 January 2012
Regulatory reform of Britain's media is coming: the question is how, and when. This year's annual Oxford event brought the big players together to wrangle over the future of the press.
Sunday 18th December

'Where's the BBC?': Response to Media Reform recommendations

David Elstein, 18 December 2011
A response to the new media reform committee's recommendations, to be submitted to the Leveson Inquiry and the Communications Review.
Monday 3rd October

Press regulation: issues, ethics, options

David Elstein, 3 October 2011
What is the future of press regulation in the UK? A group of distinguished editors and parliamentarians met last week to discuss this most crucial of questions. David Elstein reports, and offers his own map for change.
Monday 8th August

The future of newspaper ownership in Britain

David Elstein, 8 August 2011
After the phone-hacking scandal, questions have been raised about the ownership of the UK's newspapers. But we need to make sure that any new rules are effective and not counter-productive.
Wednesday 13th July

The End of the BSkyB Bid

David Elstein, 13 July 2011
Many are cheering Murdoch's demise but will they look back on the last twenty years as a paradise of pluralism?
Monday 6th June

Privacy, super-injunctions and Twitter: what should we do?

David Elstein, 6 June 2011
The war between the courts, the media, parliament and twitter users over the role of the super-injunction reveals the unresolved tension between the UK's commitments to upholding privacy and freedom of speech. David Elstein argues that the only solution is new legislation
Saturday 28th May

America's National Public Radio turns 40: BBC take note

David Elstein, 28 May 2011
National Public Radio in the US celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. The bottom-up approach of the NPR is democratic, cost effective, and encourages variety. BBC radio has much to learn
Thursday 7th April

Daniel Goldhagen and Kenya: recycling fantasy

David Elstein, 7 April 2011

Daniel Goldhagen’s book “Worse Than War” includes British colonial rule in Kenya in the 1950s among its case-studies of “elimination”. A close reading of the demographic evidence reveals the falsity of the argument, says David Elstein.

(This article was first published on 4 March 2010)

Friday 4th March

UK regulator's Sky News deal will weaken media plurality

David Elstein, 4 March 2011
Sky News is a respected, trusted and high quality news provider in a UK television market dominated by the BBC. The regulatory agreement by which NewsCorp can take full control of BSkyB as long as it effectively divests itself of Sky News jeopardises this valued news service. A detailed version of this argument can be read here

NewsCorp BSkyB settlement says more about failures at Ofcom and BBC dominance than problems with Murdoch

David Elstein, 4 March 2011
The asymmetry of the UK's regulatory treatment of NewsCorp and the BBC needs examination. This paper was prepared for a media-law seminar at the LSE convened by Damian Tambini. A summary of the author's position can be read here.
Tuesday 21st December

The Murdoch debate: What next?

David Elstein, 21 December 2010
The EU is expected to clear NewsCorp's bid to acquire all of BSkyB this week. David Elstein gives his account of an LSE debate on Murdoch's empire and the bid, which he led alongside editor of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger.
Friday 22nd October

The Death Knell for the Licence Fee?

David Elstein, 22 October 2010
The freeze to the BBC licence fee announced on Wednesday was a defeat for viewers and listeners, for BBC staff, for the independence of one of our most respected institutions, for the principles underlying the licence fee and for the whole of public service broadcasting.
Wednesday 6th October

What should we do about Murdoch?

David Elstein, 6 October 2010
It is understandable that people are fearful of Murdoch's power over the media, but there is no real justification for Vince Cable to intervene in News Corp's takeover of BSkyB.

Should Murdoch be allowed to buy all of Sky?

David Elstein, 6 October 2010
It is understandable that people are fearful of Murdoch's power over the media, but there are no real grounds for Vince Cable to intervene in News Corp's takeover of BSkyB.
Tuesday 14th September

What can we learn from Mad Men?

David Elstein, 14 September 2010
The attacks on US market provision of high-quality programming by defenders of the BBC, exemplified by Steve Barnett's response to David Graham's Adam Smith Institute paper, are misguided and misleading. Despite differences between the US and UK, we still have much to learn from US TV, argues David Elstein.
Wednesday 1st September

Mark Thompson's MacTaggart lecture: a response

David Elstein, 1 September 2010
Mark Thompson's MacTaggart lecture was a blinkered attempt to skewer Sky while ignoring the BBC's own culpability in the crisis of investment in public service broadcasting, argues David Elstein.
Friday 16th July

Hunt's silence on public service broadcasting

David Elstein, 16 July 2010
Plans for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport set out yesterday completely miss the plot when it comes to public service broadcasting. Continuing a theme, DCMS Minister Jeremy Hunt puts his faith in a Stakhanovite effort from the commercial sector once media regulations are revised, and fails to address the crisis in the provision of public service broadcasting, argues David Elstein.
Thursday 15th July

Ofcom reports: it's back to 1998 for public service broadcasting

David Elstein, 15 July 2010
Ofcom's latest review has shown public service broadcasting to be in a state of decline; falling revenues have resulted in a collapse of first-run orginal content produced by the commercial broadcasters, while steadily increasing spending at the BBC has done nothing to prevent a decline in such programming as a proportion of revenue, now at the same level as its terrestrial television rivals.
Monday 12th July

BBC governance: widening faultlines strengthen the case for a commission of inquiry

David Elstein, 12 July 2010
The electrifying first session of our public service broadcasting symposium on June 10th takes on even greater resonance in a week that has seen the publication of a series of key BBC documents and a major speech from the chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons. David Elstein explains why.
Tuesday 25th May

The coalition and media policy

David Elstein, 25 May 2010
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