Before coming on this trip, I had already been to London twice before and so I had seen and done a lot of the typical touristy stuff. However, there is so much more of London that I had not experienced yet and I could not wait to take full advantage of all of the learning opportunities that we had in store for us. I was specifically excited for the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) tour because of how famous it is and how much of an influence it has on not only England, but the entire world as well. The BBC is the most prominent and popular news source and broadcasting company in the world. One thing that is very interesting and unique is that British citizens have to pay a tax fee for every television they own in their home in order to financially support the BBC. This week we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to tour the building and learn even more about the inner workings and what goes on behind the scenes.
When we first arrived, we were ushered into a room that overlooked the newsroom where you could see some of the many busy employees working swiftly on some important news stories. It was even busier than usual because when we were there they were working on developing stories about the terror attacks in Paris. We were then greeted by a very friendly tour guide that told us many important and interesting facts about the BBC. He told us that the BBC broadcast in 26 different languages, but Arabic and English are the two most prominent languages in England so there is news broadcasted in those two languages 24/7. The tour was very interactive which I really appreciated because it made it a lot more interesting and really helped us get a glimpse of what some of these employees do everyday. One thing that I thought was funny was when the tour guide told us that each musician that comes to the BBC to perform is only paid 66 pounds and nothing more, no matter how famous they are. I also enjoyed hearing about some of the history of the old building and how they had to renovate it because the underground subway would constantly shake the bundling and cause too much commotion.
The BBC tour was extremely relevant to our focus of media in this course in so many different ways. First of all, the BBC is responsible for relaying the news to citizens, both locally and globally, whether that is through the form of television, radio, or internet. The media has played such an important role in our history and continues to play an even bigger role in our future, as technology is continually becoming more and more advanced. The BBC was an extremely important part of World War II and relayed crucial information to the population. It was also considered a target during the war and the building was bombed. On the tour we learned that when it was bombed, a radio broadcast was going on at the time but the broadcaster did not let the listeners know what had happened. He simply kept going on with his broadcast and pretended like the explosion did not happen in order to keep the listeners from panicking and the enemies from knowing that they were successful in hitting it.
During the war, a lot of times the only way to hear any information was to listen to the radio broadcasts that BBC produced. As the years go by, and other major events happen throughout the world, the BBC continues to be a reliable and easily accessible way for people to get their news. As technology has continued to grow and advance, the BBC has shifted from more of a radio focus to an even bigger focus on television. Now, whenever you hear about the BBC most people associate it with television because of the multitude of channels that they provide worldwide. I was so impressed by the tour and am so glad that I had the opportunity to tour its facilities because it's not something that a lot of people can say they have done. I am looking forward to all of the other amazing opportunities we have on this trip and what lies ahead.
- Kelsey Krug