US drama ‘The Newsroom’ demonstrates a bold attempt to meld romantic idealism with a cogent critique of the American far-right. If George Entwistle is to fulfill his aspirations and bolster BBC programming, the remit of ‘impartiality’ must be reformulated to allow the expression of positive liberty.

Against a common accusation that the BBC is unaccountable, Diane Coyle, Vice-Chairman of the BBC Trust, explains the mechanisms that are in place to register feedback and stimulate public conversation. But how effective are these procedures? 

At its best, television is "an intimate connection" between programme-makers and viewers, argues Armando Iannucci in the annual BAFTA Television Lecture, and to get back to its best, the BBC must be brave, aggressive, and dare to fail

When the BBC fixates on a narrow literary canon, and presents classic novels in straightforward adaptations, it wastes its own potential. Why not follow up Radio 4's extraordinary and unusual 'Bloomsday' celebration to use fiction as a creative springboard to a radical new kind of broadcasting?

Leveson has illuminated deep democratic problems at the heart of the British media. Far from immune to this culture, the BBC needs to learn from the inquiry and actively assert its independence. 

With the movement of key resources to MediaCityUK in Salford, the BBC looks to be expanding its frontiers of national representation. But as programming oscillates between depoliticised nostalgia and an admiring celebration of ‘northern’ authenticity, this shift has done little to combat the institution’s continued southern bias.