Television Programs Produced for the Overseas Information Services (OIS) of the Foreign Office and Commonwealth Relations Office. Background and Costs 1960 to 1989
The term Overseas Information Services (OIS) describes that part of the work of the British Embassies and High Commissions (Posts) that provided information and publicity about Britain in the countries to which they were accredited. Their purpose was to assist in promoting a better understanding about Britain, its achievements and the nature of the British people.
Starting in the 1930’s as an initiative by the Empire Marketing Board many Posts had built up libraries of films, some produced by the Crown Film Unit, some by other UK organizations for local distribution by Posts to a range of educational and other institutions as well private screenings at Posts.
The films were mainly documentary, but included some feature films the copyright for use by Posts were acquired by Film Division. The documentary films came from a range of sources including films acquired from industrial sponsors. Although not especially made for overseas use, a number had sufficient general interest to be useful to Posts
The acquisition of rights and the distribution of copies was a service provided from 1946 by the Film Division Distribution and Acquisition Section most Posts had a library, some small, some quite large, of films on offer to interested groups or for screenings given by information staff.
The opportunities offered during the 1950s by the gradual opening up of television stations, particularly in North America and Australia, provided the prospect of new ways to reach substantial audiences. But gaining significant access to television implied creating new programs and services that would be effective in the context of this new medium.
In 1954 a Committee of Officials was set up to review the Overseas Information Services. It was Chaired by the Earl of Drogheda and recommended an expansion of the information services. It also recommended development of the use of television by the Overseas Information Services “ as an outlet for films, particularly in the United States”. It went on to recommend the establishment of films officers in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles with an officer in New York to handle television.
These positive recommendations languished for a while in the official machinery but were taken up as a consequence of the debacle of the invasion of Suez that did considerable harm to the image of Britain in the world. The implementation of the Drogheda recommendations were taken up by Charles Hill, who had been appointed coordinator of Government Information Services in 1957. He moved to find the necessary financial resources to expand the use of television in the overseas information services.
The White Paper on Overseas Information Services (OIS) (Cmd 225) published in 1957, concluded by noting
“Britain’s full influence can be exercised only if we are prepared to devote enough effort and resources to ensuring that the people’s or other countries have every opportunity to understand our ideas our policies and our objectives. Furthermore, we shall strengthen our economic position only if our efforts include vigorous salesmanship overseas”.
The White Paper announced an expansion of the order of 15% in terms of annual expenditure of the level of funding of OIS to £15 million a year compared with £13 million pounds then currently expended. It was
“necessary to maintain Britain’s information services as a level consistent with our world wide responsibility to ensure the necessary reinforcement of our national policies and our associations in the defence of the free world”.
It took a couple or years or so for this additional expenditure to come on stream. Gradually it did so and from 1956 to 1958 onwards the Overseas Television Services were brought into being and developed. While by no means entirely spent on television overseas, the budget for Film Division grew from under £200,000 in 1957 to £1,530,000 in 1964/5. This work was eventually the largest single area of work and expenditure for Film Division, a situation that continued until 1990.
During the period 1957 to 1990 hundreds of television programs together with well over 1000 short news features, together with a weekly television newsreel were produced. The exact number is not known because the records are sadly incomplete. However for the OIS, who had come to accept that the concept of “projecting Britain” through the mass communication medium of television, the output was to be a substantial contribution to their information work in Embassies and High Commissions.
The television programs for overseas use produced by Film Division were an activity and a body of work that has not received a great deal of written attention. Yet the style and nature of the programs were remarkable given the context within which they were made, which was that of the voice of ‘official’ Britain.
An account of the overseas television work by Film Division up to1964, was published by the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC) in 2007. Written by their Head of Research Linda Kaye, under the title “Reconciling Policy and Propaganda: The British Overseas Television Service 1954-1964” it was published as part of “Projecting Britain”. The account deals in some detail with developments in government policy during the 1950s, leading up to Ministerial decisions to invest in the new medium of television as part of the Overseas Information services. It goes on to chart the progress of a number of television series produced between the mid 1950s up to 1964 showing how these television films attempted, with varying degrees of success, to meet the policy objectives of the Overseas Information Services.
The period covered by this account runs from 1960 to 1989/90. In broad terms the Overseas Television Services that had gradually become established in the latter part of the 1950s, evolved and expanded from 1960 and continued to 1990.
A number of changes were made during the 1970s, both in production and distribution largely as a consequence of a major review of the Overseas Television Services conducted by in 1968 by a Sub Committee of the Official Committee on Information Services. The review Committee was convened by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Chair was Mr R Mc C Samples Assistant Under Secretary of State at the Commonwealth Office. The Committee included representatives of the British Council, BBC External Services and others.
While some changes were recommended, the Committee gave approval to the work that had been carried out by the Film Division thus far and supported its continuance.
During the 1970s the services prospered and evolved to adapt to presentation and scheduling changes in television stations while continuing to carry the OIS information messages.
The services waned a little during the late 1980s. They disappeared almost altogether between 1990 and 1995 as a consequence of the change of the financial status of COI as a whole, from that of a Department with a Parliamentary Vote to becoming an Executive Agency and Trading Fund. This change led to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office setting up its own Film Unit moving production and marketing away from COI.
How far the eventual disappearance of the COI services for the FCO were driven simply by policy changes within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or whether there were other factors at play that dictated it should go its own way is not, at present, at all clear.
Many other changes in production over the years were driven by changes in technology and the growth and scope of television stations around the world. The thrust of this account is to look at how the various television series made in the period 1960-1990 were actually produced in the context of the government machine with all the inevitable implications of the bureaucratic system. Who actually created the television series? What was the nature of the programs? How were they distributed? What were the criteria for their transmission? What evidence was there for their use?
Relations with the Overseas Information Services:
At the start of 1960 three separate departments constituted the overseas services, the Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office. In 1966 the Colonial Office was closed and in 1968 the Commonwealth Relations Office was merged with the Foreign Office to become the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Up to this point Film Division was sometimes simply dealing with one department about a particular project or sometimes dealing with two departments who had “shares” in a project.
During the 1960s the volume of work for the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Relations Office increased substantially. The Information Sections of the two departments, who were ultimately responsible for the materials (films, books, press releases) sent to Embassies and High Commissions, provided the point of contact for Film Division staff on a day to day basis. They were in effect the ’sponsors’ of the Film Division output. Since most of output was either in the form of ‘program series’ or ‘short news’ items the amount of control exercised over individual programs or news items was not the same as that for a documentary film made for, say, the Home Office.
As the volume of material grew from 1960 onwards the degree of control gradually diminished. An example of this trend was the television series British Calendar. In 1960 control involved submitting a proposed list of subjects for each program for approval before filming. Further control involved submitting a commentary script, again for approval before recording. The finished program was finally shown to a representative of the Information Section. The process was in the spirit of the arrangements set up in 1946 namely that the Departments took ‘political “responsibility’ for everything that was made. It was of course, cumbersome. Very gradually it dropped away in the face of the reality of the time pressures of regular scheduled production. In its place was the general brief for the objectives of a series with occasional samples of the programs being shown after they were completed and distributed.
Closer control was maintained for Television News Items since these were often about subjects that were of current political interest.
Underlying these questions of degree of control or the absence of it lay the question of what the programs were for. What were they meant to achieve or put another way what were the objectives of the Overseas Information Services (OIS).? The answers, in very general terms, included: to foster and maintain good relations with governments and peoples of foreign countries, project an image of Britain as a friendly, innovative and thriving nation: support trade and encourage exports. Finally, where possible, to project Britain’s views on developing political situations in the world. This last issue being the most difficult to achieve using the medium of television when neither the FCO or the COI owned television stations with which to transmit programs.
It followed that most of the Film Division output for the FCO was directed to and successful in meeting all the first batch of objectives but struggled to deal with political issues. The distinction between the two areas sometimes referred to as the distinction between “soft” and “hard” information. While FCO staff in London and Posts recognized that much of their work was in “soft” information, dealing with political issues was their prime purpose. In so doing there would be a wish to be able to deploy all possible tools that might be available, especially the power of television.
This issue was to be the source of difficulty in relations between Film Division and the FCO as Film Division attempted to make programs that television stations would be prepared to transmit while meeting this particular objective of the sponsors.
Funding and Financial Control
Financial control of the Overseas Television Services consisted of an annual discussion between COI and FCO to agree a programme of work for the forthcoming year. Sums were allocated to television series or activities that would be shaped according to the overall amount of money that the Overseas Information Services had available.
This pattern continued through the 1970s and 1980s. Evidence of the way the pattern of expenditure was shaped can be found in the following examples of estimated expenditure of several Financial Years. The first is for the financial year 1968/69 as prepared by Film Division for the FCO. It is followed by Film Division estimates proposals in the 1980s.
The 1968/69 note was prepared for by Film Division for the FCO:
Overseas Television Services proposed costs for 1968/69
General Structure: the services can be divided into three broad categories:-
Short items for inclusion in news or newsmagazine programs produced by local overseas television stations. These items range from 1.5 to 5 minutes in length and cover news subjects such as Ministerial statements; background material for forthcoming news stories; supporting material for trade missions’ and a considerable number of trade promotion items, including high quality “news feature” material for the USA and Europe.
Magazine programs, generally 15 minutes in length, some of which are closely targeted to certain areas and some of which are multidirectional. These programs cover a wide range of subjects including major political, financial and economic matters and new scientific and technological developments which together with trade stories, produce a total trade oriented content of 60%.
Occasional series of “package” programs. These are groups of usually 13 programs built around a theme eg new scientific developments, which can be offered to television stations. These programs have a life of several years and are often repeated several times by individual television stations.
Details of the services are as follows:
London Television Service (LTS)
Newsbriefs: 1-2 minute items on political, economic or trade promotion subjects
Newsbackgrounds: 1-3 minute items providing background to future news events
Newsfeatures: 5 minute items on science/technology and other special interest subjects for use in local magazine programs
Cost 1968/69 £185,000
(including £21,000 for the cost of studio facilities for London correspondents)
Magazine Programs London Line (colour)
Weekly 15 minute magazine program in colour for USA and Canada, black and white copies going to Australia, New Zealand, the Caribean, Hong Kong, Manila, Malta and Gibralter
Cost 1968/69 £233,000(not including £65,000 local USA costs)
London Line (Africa)
Weekly 15 minute magazine program in black and white produced for Ghana, Liberia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Sierra Leone. Cost 1968/69 £61,400
Aqui Londres
Latin-American Spanish 15 minute magazine program, 39 issues a year, in black and white for Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, San Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Cost 1968/69 £77,000
Aqui Londres (Brazilian Portuguese)
As above for Brazil and Portugal Cost included in above.
Adwa ‘ Wa Aswat
15 minute weekly magazine program in Arabic in black and white, for Aden, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Quarter, United Arab Republic. Cost 1968/69 £16,300
Calendar:
Weekly 15 minute magazine program in black and white for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Caribbean, India, Middle East, Far East and Africa. Cost 1968/69 £43,100
Telerama Britannico
Spanish and Portuguese editions of “Calendar” for Latin-America, Los Angeles and Portugal Cost 1968/69 £39,700
This Week In Britain (TWIB)
Weekly 5 minute report by resident London reporters. Five black and white versions, each with a reporter from the area, for Canada, Australia, Africa and Latin America Cost 1968/69 £63,000
Letter From London
Three studio introduced versions of “This Week In Britain” for the Middle East, Iran and French speaking territories. Cost 1968/69 £22,130
“Package” series
Television film “packages” are produced in usually in groups of 13 programs on timeless subjects. These “packages” have been successfully distributed since 1958. One new series in the current financial year is “Frontier”. A package of 13 fifteen minute programs in colour on science subjects Cost 1968/69 £18,000
Television Acquisitions
Rights are purchased for the use overseas of certain BBC and ITV programmes: (a) for free use where the program promotes information objectives (b) for subsidized use at approximately one-third of cost in areas where otherwise British television programs would not be seen. Programs are not acquired for countries where commercial sales are possible. Cost 1968/69 £15,000
Documentary Films
Service reports from posts show that 5,000 transmissions of documentary films are taking place on television annually: all documentary films produced at the present time are designed to achieve television use where it offers. These are films produced by a variety of companies and organizations initially for use in the UK Cost 1968/69 £60,000
Distribution costs for prints of acquisitions and documentary films Cost 1968/69 £48,000
Facilities for London based correspondents:
Arranged by Film Division for visiting television teams that take the form of
(a)General assistance with introductions and guidance on locations
(b ) technical assistance in provision of camera crews and studio facilities. expenditure is carried partly on the Visits Vote and partly on the Production Reserve Vote of Film Division Cost 1968/69 £8,500
The total operational expenditure, that is excluding COI staff costs, for 1968/69 was of the order of £914,000
The pattern of activity set out for 1968/69 largely continued though further evolution took place during the latter part of the 1970s and into the 1980s.
Evolution of the Overseas Television Services that had taken place during the 1970s and was to continue was partly driven by marketing considerations.The considerations were not about obtaining more and more transmissions in order to make money, but in order to improve the penetration of television stations for the OIS information messages. At the same time Film Division clearly had to have regard for content of these messages, all the time bearing mind the distinctions between “hard” and “soft” information.Central to these considerations was the allocation of resources as between the various services.
A means of tracking the evolution of services, the allocation of resources and the thinking behind them also can be found in three papers prepared by Film Division in the early 1980s and submitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Each paper reviewed the current work of the Overseas Television Services and put forward production proposals for implementation the following year.
The papers were entitled “Film Division Overseas Program: 1982-1983” and similar sets for 1983-1984 and 1987-1988. Proposals of this nature had, for many years, been written by the Film Division each autumn and presented to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They were prepared each year as part of the process that lead to the preparation of the estimates bids for the following financial year.
The first paper in the series reviewed the work that had been undertaken in 1981 and puts forward a proposed programme of work for 1982/83.
It said that:
The current programme of production comprised five major areas:
London Correspondents and Television Facilities
We encourage and help television correspondents and programme makers from overseas who are feeding material about Britain to their home television services. We also play an active role on behalf of television correspondents on important political or State occasions and at major conferences.
(b) We make television programs that are distributed, largely by sales. They mainly cover science and technology and also broader social issues. This represents our largest expenditure in staff and money. In return for which we get a spread of programming in a large number of countries. The two main series in production are:
“Living Tomorrow”: A long running magazine program about science and technology featuring British products and developments. It is distributed to more than 60 countries. In some countries – notably Eastern Europe – it is the only kind of material that we could realistically expect to get frequently on television. We are presently, selling to Hungary, Poland and Rumania.
“Insight Series”: was a new series in the current year. Its subjects vary from the technical such as British bridge builders to the glamorous such as fashion designer Zandra Rhodes. Its purpose is to provide an opportunity for a ‘broad brush’ view of British life.
(c) We make some individual programs to meet special requests from Posts. During the current year, we made several programs, such as “All On A Summers Day”: a 50 minute documentary about Britain today. This was made in response to repeated requests for such a film. We also made some politically based programs such as those on Rhodesia, Afghanistan and the film on the Northern Ireland Troubles.
(d) We have produced short topical items for BIS New York and for the EEC program “ Europe Pictorial”. We are producing some 30-35 items each year for BIS New York mainly on scientific and agricultural themes. We are committed to provide a supply of 26 items each year to the EEC new reel “Europe Pictorial” for which we also produced a special issue to mark the British Presidency. We also produce occasional special political items, such as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s visit to Tokyo and Venice.
(e) Occasionally we also help to co-finance television productions where there is a clear information advantage.
The document then turns to proposals for the next financial year, 1982/83. The proposals were of course, simply proposals: ideas that were for discussion and agreement with the FCO.
The following programme of production is proposed for 1982/1983:
The London Correspondents and Facilities services to continue with some small increases in resources and finance to meet increasing demands.
As a result of our experience in marketing television material we propose moving more of our regular television production from quarter-hour to half-hour lengths. There will be no change required in the staffing or finance, but this move will increase the attractiveness or our material internationally and should lead to enhanced distribution in many parts of the world. The price we shall pay is that we shall produce rather fewer programs each year, but the extra running time should lead to better transmission times for each program. The “Living Tomorrow “ series will change its title to signify a change to television stations that will assist our marketing efforts. However within the half-hour length we shall be able to demonstrate in depth some of the more interesting technological developments in Britain. It will remain our primary vehicle for promoting new products.
We propose that after the completion of the current “Insight” series we should deploy a proportion of the staff and finance to a new project ( see below) which will give us breathing space to assess just how successful the “Insight” series is in marketing terms. We propose not more than three “Insight” programs during 1982/83.
We have made provision for political and special programs of the Northern Ireland/Afghanistan genre on the assumption that more material in this area will be required.
The topical item service will continue in more or less the same pattern with BIS New York as a primary user, but whenever possible meeting specific requests from other Posts. We will continue to meet the commitment of one item each fortnight to the Europe Pictorial produced and distributed by the EEC. The funding required for 1982/83 for Europe Pictorial is slightly higher than before.
Proposals were also made for the Marketing Service, that is the sales operation to television stations, working under the banner of London Television Service. The document goes on to discuss film services to Posts, that is documentary (often training) films for non-television use and also the supply of a number of feature films for use to invited audiences.
One section discusses the appearance and spread of the use of videocassettes. Reflecting a good deal of informed discussion, the paper suggested it was possible that by the end of the 1980s, the combined effect of non-broadcast forms of visual communication would have eroded the importance of broadcast television for the information services …… “this erosion will be more pronounced in the most developed countries.”
The section then goes on to propose a wholly new activity, entitled “Briefing” to take advantage of the spread of this new technology, given that most Posts were equipped with videocassette equipment.
The “Briefing” project envisaged producing a regular and hopefully frequent, flow of items that are designed as background briefing on specific political and economic subjects. They would generally be relatively simple in format. For the most part they would not be intended for use on broadcast television since the subjects and presentation of them would probably not be acceptable for broadcast television. They would be intended for showing or distributing by Posts to “opinion formers”
The “Briefing” items were intended for use by Posts, on videocassette, and distributed direct to local opinion formers, journalists and politicians for their own use. An example of where this had already happened had been when the Post in Kuwait had sent copies of the COI program “Afghanistan 1980” direct to local opinion formers. A further audience might be London based correspondents, both television and print.
The idea for this new activity were developed at some length and are an example of the way in which, over the years, COI had acted not simply as a production resource, but also as a source of advice about new ways of using visual media as technology changed, developed and came into use.
In the event the proposal for regular “Briefings” did not get off the ground. The main reason was a period of industrial dispute within COI. There was also reluctance on the part of the Foreign Office to take up the suggestion. Although many Posts were equipped with videocassette machines the personnel time required to mount or offer regular screenings or access to equipment or mail videocassettes out to opinion formers, meant that the project, though desirable was not feasible except in exceptional circumstances, which eventually emerged at the time of the Falklands invasion and for some programs about the progress of the war in Afghanistan.
The paper noted:
The financial implications of these proposals for production as distinct from marketing and other costs is set out below: Service 1982/83 (1981/82) Correspondents and facilities £290,000 £225,000
Item Service for BIS New York £145,000 £125,000
Europe Pictorial £130,000 £115,000
Living Tomorrow (Perspective) £490,000 £725,000
Insight and Briefing £350,000 £555,000
Stand alone Documentary films £300,000 £330,000
Co-financed Production £ 25,000 £ 25,000
Totals £1,730,000 £2,100,000
The similar document in respect of the Overseas Programme for 1983 -1984 written in October 1982, commences with some paragraphs about problems which had arisen during 1982 from the crisis in the Falkland Islands:
The Falklands war revealed a number of issues and in the context of this crisis, it was found that the assumption that news film agencies could be relied on to provide a comprehensive supply of material was not true. We saw that material supplied was never more than 1-2 minutes in length. The pleas from Posts for television material and the struggles to supply it both by videocassette and satellite demonstrated the importance of television as a means of communication both in broadcast form and in its private use as a means of briefing important opinion formers. In this context it is worth remembering that only a few years ago COI had regular weekly services of cinema newsreels. There were also weekly television programs produced in local languages. All these services, had they still been operating, could have provided the British point of view .
The document also goes on to record difficulties that Film Division had encountered as a consequence of an industrial dispute with the film and television technicians union the ACTT (Association of Cinematograph and Television Technicians) which had led to a ban on the production of COI film and television material.The dispute followed a central government decision that required all departments and divisions to reduce Civil Service staff by a given percentage. It took several months to resolve the dispute with the union, the ACTT, with a consequential effect on production output, particularly programs in the Living Tomorrow and Insight series.
In October 1982 when the document was written, COI reported that in the current year, it was trying to catch up on the shortfall in production with the aim of having material available for sale in the Spring of 1983 when television stations traditionally purchased programs at the international television trade fair MIP-TV.
“Living Tomorrow” would be replaced by a new 30 minute format but with a new title “Perspective”. The new “Perspective “ was simply a marketing device to improve sales and thereby transmissions through the use of a new title.
As to the “Insight” series, two new packages of six programs each would be produced to build on the first package of thirteen programs which were now being completed, albeit some 12 months later than originally scheduled. The first of the new packages would be about Britain as a maritime nation and the second batch would be on social aspects of medicine. Again we hoped to have both packages ready by the Spring of 1983.
Thus the proposals for the financial year 1983-84 were as follows:
London Correspondents and Facilities, would continue with some increase in resources and finance to meet increasing demand. The item services for BIS New York and Europe Pictorial to continue though it was noted that BIS had plans to change their marketing strategy and COI had doubts about the value of Europe Pictorial .
Provision was also made for individual programs on political and economic issues. It was also the intention to exploit experience which had been gained through the Falklands crisis, to provide “hot news” to television stations via satellite.
A package of 13 half hour programs on science and technology under the new “Perspective” title was proposed. In addition to the now completed series of Insight programs there would be the two further packages of six programs each.
“Focus On Britain” which had been an ad hoc provision of material produced through the Consulate-General in Los Angeles had now become established as a successful operation to broadcast and cable television services in California and would have a separate expenditure line.
A film about HRH Prince Charles that had been requested in 1981 would now go forward with a separate provision.
The financial implications for production of these proposals were:
Service 1983-1984 1982-1983
London Correspondents/ Facilities and co-productions £283,000 £310,000
Europe Pictorial £140,000 £140,000
Service for BIS New York £166,000 £155,000
Political/Economic material £206,000 £330,000
Perspective science programs £625,000 £530,000
Stand alone documentary films £344,000 £380,000 including further Insight and other packages of programs
Focus On Britain £ 50,000 n/a
Program about HRH Prince Charles £ 78,000 n/a
Totals £1,892,000 £1,845,000
These papers provide an indication of the costs of producing the various services. It also provides an indication of the priority being given to the individual services. Estimates were, of course, just that, actual spending was always at the mercy of events. As shown in these proposals that were offered to the Foreign Office, Film Division had built into the financial proposals a considerable degree of flexibility to be able to react to changing events and demands.
Moving forward several years, the pattern of activity can be seen from the following paper: ‘1988-1989 Estimates Proposals for Consideration by Foreign Office’ prepared by John Hall then Director of the Films and Television Division. As with previous estimates proposals, it was thought to be necessary to introduce the paper by re-stating the basic premise for using the medium. This was not because the Division in some way doubted the case for television, but it recognized a long standing problem, which was that staff in the Information Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office changed as they were posted either in the UK or overseas. It therefore seemed sensible to review and re-state the case for the use of an expensive medium such as television and why the separate parts of the overall programme were structured as they were. So the opening of the paper was as follows:
FILMS AND TELEVISION DIVISION: OVERSEAS TELEVISION PROGRAMME 1988-89:
l. INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of this paper is to review the current programme of production and distribution in the context of the consideration of estimates for 1988-89. It is also the case that while "Clift"* looked at the efficiency and, to some degree, the effectiveness of Films Division services, there has been relatively little discussion on the way in which the present services developed or the ways in which they might change in order to continue to serve FCO objectives. (* there is no trace or memory of who or what was “Clift”)
2 WHY USE MOVING PICTURES?:
The substantial sums of money involved in the production of television material or other forms of "moving pictures" makes it necessary to pose this question. It is an obvious truism that television, in its many forms, has become the ubiquitous means of mass communication but it is also the case that there are other routes which can be used to utilise the power of the medium for information purposes in a world in which people are increasingly accustomed to receiving information in pictures and sound rather than through the printed word.
The use of films for information purposes by government has a history dating back to the 1930s. The way in which it has been used, either through showing 16 mm films to invited audiences, producing films for use in cinemas, or the production of material for television and latterly for use on videotape, has been conditioned both by technological change and by social change influenced by the means by which audiences can be reached.
Thus during the 1950s, the FCO funded the extensive use of 16mm film libraries consisting of a large number of films acquired from commercial producers, together with an extensive programme of production. Most posts had sizeable libraries with staff to service the many thousands of borrowings and to organise local shows.
In the late 1950s and through the 1960s, the growth of television diverted effort into the production and distribution of material for this medium on the premise that it enabled HMG to reach far bigger audiences for less effort in terms of staff at posts. (For instance during the 1960s, COI were producing some 250 magazine programs for television each year).
The value of television as a medium to the overseas information services was investigated in the late 1960s by a cabinet sub-committee of officials chaired by Mr Samples of the CRO. Broadly it concluded that television as a medium for conveying information was both universal and important. That HMG could not ignore the medium, indeed had to find ways to harness its potential.
In essence, the case for the use of "moving pictures” has rested with the unique power that the medium possesses to convey information vividly and effectively. The aphorism "to see is to understand" describes the potential that the medium offers to the information services of government.
The major impediment to the realisation of this potential lies in the problem of reaching target audiences, of placing "moving pictures" in front of them. COI Film Division has, over the years, offered and carried through a variety of solutions amongst them:
(a) magazine television programs in the 1960s: extensively used in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Latin-America, the Arab world, Africa and Asia. Generally given away to television stations the use was monitored through viewers' letters. The programs demonstrated British achievements in many areas and also demonstrated the links between Britain and the areas to which the programs were addressed
(b) the production of programs on science and technology started at the end of the 1960s, continuing to the present because most television stations have transmission slot for "science and technology" programs
(c) production of topical news material during the 1960s and into the 1970s, discontinued because the growth of distribution of news by satellite outstripped the resources of government. Topical news material has been replaced by Television News Features that are less time limited.
(d) facility services to visiting television teams and London-based correspondents
(e) production of short, ad hoc, series for television: e.g. "Sea in their Blood"
(f) production of "political" prograrnmes, e.g. programs on the Falklands and the Afghanistan series
At the same time the amount of financial resource available in recent years has declined substantially in real terms. For instance the provision in 1982-83 at £2.975K is about the same as the current provision, less revenue. If inflation is taken in account in the same period there has been a substantial net reduction in real terms.
Equally, in the same period there have been many changes in the pattern of the services and the use of television throughout the world. Not least has been growth of the video medium. In 1982/83 there were 1-2 million video cassette devices in use throughout the wor1d. The figure now is of the order of 150 million constituting a real alternative "channel" to broadcast television. It is also the case that broadcast television itself is fragmenting. At a seminar at the Royal Television Society in Cambridge in September 1987 the nature of the future of television in Europe was considered in the context of the growth of satellite and cable services.
In the Netherlands, Belgium and in some parts of Germany some 16 channels are already available to some 40-50% of homes and this growth is continuing. In many parts of the USA up to 40 channels are available.
Thus, in the context of reduced financial resources and of rapidly accelerating change in the means of reaching audiences, there is clear need to continually review what is being done now and what changes need to be made.
3. WHERE TO START:
In the notes that follow an attempt is made to offer a COI view on:
(a) what the present services achieve and whether they are worth continuing. (b) how the services might change or be improved.
This view is offered for discussion.
4. REVIEW OF CURRENT PROGRAMME:
London Correspondents and Facilities:
These services which provide research, technical assistance and footage both to London-based television correspondents and to visiting television teams cost a total of £500,000 of which £346,000 represents COI staff and resources and £155,000 represents technical services which are bought in. London continues to be the main television news gathering centre for Western Europe. There are now some eighty overseas television correspondents using COI services representing both broadcast and cable television operators. There is a clear, if unquantifiable, case for a central point in HMG to whom overseas television correspondents can refer in the confident expectation of receiving effective professional help and understanding. The existence of this operation also enables us, on occasion, to feed material to the correspondents or to put a view to them. The effectiveness of the service depends on its professionalism and its sensitivity to the needs and concerns of the correspondents
In the past six months the correspondents desk has handled more than 150 enquiries ranging over a number of subjects but are primarily concerned with government policy questions. During the same six months, eight special reports were produced.
These included three special reports on the General Election, a background item on AIDS, an item on the 40th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan requested by Number 10. The most popular item was the 20 minute piece on AIDs which received extensive world-wide use. Other projects which have been discussed with Information Department include an item on the Gulf of Hormuz and we have indications that the correspondents would welcome an item on Britain's policy on overseas aid.
Similar considerations apply to the Television Facilities operation for visiting television teams. During the last six months, some 63 projects were completed and 14 are current. The Far East (Japan and South Korea) and the USA are sti1l the biggest users of the service. China Television has also used us and there is to be a major visit in November from CCTV to produce programs on the City and privatisation. In this connection material from our program 'Big Bang" will be extremely useful.
Another project concerns a team from MTV Budapest, producing programs later in the year on post election Britain and economic developments in Scot1and. The Television Facilities Unit also services state and official visits. So far this year the visits have included the King of Morocco; the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The service could usefully be developed, especially for the United States, to build up relations with specialist programs (as we have done with "Farming Today" in Chicago) as a means of reaching the very difficult United States television market. These considerations could be applied elsewhere. A "facilities” leaflet has been produced, but given the constraints on staff time in Posts there could well be a case for a good deal more direct effort by COI if the potential for this service is to be more fully realised.
(b) Focus On Britain:
This project operating out of the Consulate-General in Los Angeles has been serviced by Film Division as a "facility', operation over the past six years. The project has grown both in the number of programs produced and the quality has increased, its demands on Film Division, now take it well outside any comparison with normal facility projects.
Both the current and previous series have only succeeded because of immense personal dedication by some individuals. It is necessary in terms of good management to understand that to produce 13 broadcast quality television programs each year is a major undertaking especially given the involvement of commercial sponsors. There are also the financial complexities of a split production operation between the USA and the UK, together with the problems of buying airtime. If the series is to continue it will be necessary for additional Film Division effort to be deployed that will have cost implications.
In the current year the cost to FCO of the UK operation is about £250,000 of which £90,000 is the cost of COI time and resources and €160,000 is for bought-in operational expenditure. This does not take account of time and effort of the Consulate-General staff in Los Angeles.
For these resources the exposure achieved is on four television channels in the USA (Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Washington) in off-peak time with audience estimated from ratings, of the order of 3-4 million. It is clear that this audience could be increased but only with the expenditure of substantial extra funds to buy more or better airtime.
We have considered whether the material could find additional exposure elsewhere. There are two impediments, the first is that much of the material is very commercial and would be unacceptable in most countries, unless for instance, in some Latin-American countries, time was bought. The second is that the American presenter is heavily used on camera. Again this would inhibit versions in other languages and tends to be unacceptable in other English-speaking countries. The exception may possibly, be Canada.
Thus the present situation is that for a cost to FCO rising probably to £300,000 in 1988/89 (with £420,000 from commercial sponsors) the audience achieved is unlikely to rise substantially, unless there is a very radical change to the nature of the program or some means of significantly increasing the number of television stations transmitting the program.
Decisions on the future of Focus on Britain should be made quickly. in order to achieve the necessary number of sponsors; staff need to commence working on this problem from early November onwards .
(c) "Contact" Magazine: European Commission:
Debate continues about the nature and future of this EC project. The new proposals under discussion envisage a longer program of 26 minutes produced as a "magazine', as opposed to the single-subject programs produced in the last year or so. In effect a return to the original concept.
Funds for this project were cut back in 1984/85 to the present "token" leve1 of £40,000. Some ingenuity has. been expended by Film Division to involve ODA funds and by combining shooting for Contact with other projects in order to make something useful with available resources. If the present proposals go ahead the UK will be a very minor contributor to the series, indeed it is probably necessary to consider some increase on the €40,000 in order to make any useful contribution at all.
The central difficulty in considering a level of contribution is determining the information value to the UK of the project. Certainly the present series in COI's view, gives little or no information return because the program is poorly made and its use is problematic. The money expended only represents a "seat at the table" but no doubt the UK would not wish to be seen to be pulling out of this European initiative.
On a more positive note there are indications that experience is beginning to bring on a more realistic note into the discussions in Brussels. Earlier emphasis on "development" and the "south-south" dialogue seem to be receding in favour of more direct material emphasising links between the EC and the Third World.
(d) "Perspective": Science and Technology:
The fifth series of 13 programs in this series was launched at MlP-Television in Cannes in April, thus some 65 programs are in distribution with a further 13 due to be completed by April 1988.
The nature of any international distribution of program material to television is necessarily a long-drawn out affair. Programs have to be seen by buyers, transmission slots have to be found' (schedules are drawn up months ahead), contracts negotiated and agreed.
It's a process of slow build-up. Some 2 years after launch the series had been sold to 30 countries, now it has been sold to 66 countries with repeat orders from the earlier countries. This record of continuing sales together with the many international awards to the series enables us to be confident that broadcast standards are being achieved and maintained.
Nonetheless, the production costs of £809,000 are substantial: the revenue income only offsets the marketing costs. Is it worth the cost? As with most information activities a reliable statistical justification is not feasible. The basic justification for television exposure is that it enables an audience who are unaware of British achievements or whose information about Britain is confined to "bad news" stories, which they see on the television news progrs to see, for themselves, programs demonstrating exciting and innovative activity in science and technology in the UK. It has been suggested, in the past, that the BBC series, "Horizon" does just this. Unfortunately examination of this series demonstrates that "Horizon" is largely confined to looking at international science and only a minority of programs are about British science. Moreover the series does not sell as widely as does Perspective.
A judgment about the value of "Perspective" is therefore about the value of spending some £800,000 a year for a television series now reaching audiences in 66 countries with 13 half-hour programs each year.
(e) Political and Economic Material:
This heading (which has only appeared in the last 2 years or so) is, in effect, a "catch-all" for ad hoc programs.
Prior to 1985/86 there were two strands of budget. The first concerned short series of programs for television on subjects other than science. The second concerned the concept of “video brief” programs which had its origins in proposals put to Posts in 1984 to build on the "off-air recording" service by providing programs on political and economic subjects for use with opinion-formers: a proposal generally well received by Posts.
Experience in the market place convinced COI that to attempt to sell program series of less than 13 programs did not make economic sense. For while some countries will buy short series of say six programs, many will not, however good the programs may be. A case in point is Italy who, in early years, would not purchase Perspective because there were not enough of them. When the fourth series became available, they bought all 52 programs. At the same time, ad hoc programs such as the Afghanistan programs were increasingly being used by Posts (now equipped with videocassette players ) for invited audiences and for direct distribution on videocassette to opinion-formers.
This situation also reflected a clear movement by industry and commercial organizations, both in the UK and elsewhere, to see the "video" as an effective means of communication for targeted audiences, and to bypass the broadcaster.
In the two financial years 1985/86 and 1986/87 various programs have been produced. Though it has to be said that there has been an absence of a clearly thought through policy by FCO which would have led to the most effective use of this medium. Thus there has been a mixture of clearly "political" programs, e.g. Falklands Fishing, a program on Northern Ireland and Britain and the EC, together with the more general programs such as "Making It Happen".
The concept of the video-brief program intended to brief opinion-formers quickly and effectively has not fully matured. It is COI's view that this opportunity could sti1l be grasped. It is an opportunity to produce a variety of programs often at very short notice, often relatively cheaply, which would put forward HMGs view of a particular issue. At its most basic it could be a statement or interview with Foreign Secretary on say the situation in the Gulf with copies made and distributed to Posts in a matter of days. An economical version perhaps of USIA's “Worldnet Project”
FCO may reca1l that the outline for this proposal was put forward by COI (John Hall's letter of 13 December 1983) and followed-up by Bernard Everett's circular to selected Posts (2 May 1984) which resulted in a list of suggestions from Posts for possible subjects. While inevitably any new idea is received with varying degrees of understanding and enthusiasm, the circular revealed subject areas of concern to Posts and some recognition that the experience with the off-air recording service suggested that videos could provide a way forward to enable Posts to demonstrate Britain's position on a range of "political" questions to important opinion formers in a very new way.
The evident importance which the USA Information Agency attaches to the briefing of opinion formers on political issues can be seen from the very large resources which they have devoted to building up the interactive concept of “Worldnet” at a cost of (at least) some 26 million dollars each year. It is not suggested that the UK attempt to match this degree of effort, but it is the case that presently the power of the medium for addressing political questions is under-used and not serving FCO political objectives in the way that it might.
5. CURRENT PRODUCTION PROGRAMME IN SUMMARY:
In structural terms therefore the present programme interfaces with broadcast television through:
(a) London correspondents and Facilities by providing professional and friendly services influencing, where it can, the content of programmes through suggestion and research. It cannot determine the content in any way. (b) Perspective: a worldwide window for the projection of British scientific and technological achievements.
(c) Focus on Britain: a means of projecting British commercial interests to audiences in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington.
(d) Contact Magazine: a small and limited amount of material to this EC program distributed to the Third world. It interfaces with opinion formers on political and economic subjects (occasionally with some television use) through ad hoc video programs.
(e) Political and Economic material
6. NEXT YEAR:
It is recognised that financial constraints will continue and "developmental" suggestions may appear to be inappropriate.Nonetheless the trend for conveying information by audio-visual means to increase and influence opinion formers is clearly evident, whether it is broadcast television, cable, video, interactive video, the use of pictures and sound to communicate is a very large growth industry. The diminution of resources devoted to audio visual communication thus goes clearly against the trend elsewhere.
As a first step in looking to the future it would seem sensible to put the current services into a priority order in terms of value for money and judged against perceived FCO objectives.
The following order suggests itself:
(a) London Correspondents and facilities
(b) Perspective
(c) Political and economic material
(d) Focus on Britain
(e) Contact Magazine (EEC)
The justification for this order of priority might be that the correspondents and facilities operation service many countries who produce programs on a wide range of issues.
Perspective projects British science and technology worldwide thus supporting the export effort.
Political and economic matters are of considerable importance to FCO and a means of enhancing the communication of these matters would be valuable.
Focus on Britain is clearly an interesting project for the projection of British commercial interests in the United States but the question of achieving substantial coverage is stil1 unresolved. The information value of Contact is relatively small.
In terms of level of expenditure, the sums presently allocated for Correspondents and Facilities are about right. COI believes that the current production level for items for the correspondents could not be substantially increased without running the risk of damaging relations with them.
As indicated earlier, it is believed that there is scope for extending the facilities operation. This would require "marketing" effort to identify and establish relations with specialist television programs. The judgment is whether the service should continue to be "passive" or whether it should be "active" in seeking out opportunities and making proposals.
The costs of producing Perspective have been held down by COI for several years now. Every effort has been made to cut corners, thus absorbing inflation. However if the programme standards are to be maintained it is unlikely that inflation can continue to be absorbed.
The budget expenditure for political and economic material for the year was estimated at £452,000. Some £60,000 has been transferred to enhance the Focus budget. The figure of £452,000 was, as indicated earlier in this paper, a "catch-all" figure.
It is also the case that in the current year only three political programs have been produced (Britain and the EC; Afghanistan 8; Falklands Fisheries). If the case for seriously using the medium for political and economic purposes exists, then clearly a good many more subjects could be tackled. Thus a provision of about £400,000 enabling some 8-9 subjects to be produced suggests itself.
The expenditure on Focus on Britain was increased during the year to £251,000 from an original provision of £181,000. Given the level of demand on time and effort referred to earlier, this provision will be nearer to £300,000 for 1988/89.
The future of Contact is still uncertain. However, assuming that current proposals go through and the UK continues to wish to play a significant role, then a figure of the order of £80,000 will probably be required.
In summary: current year next year Correspondents & Facilities 501k , 550k
Perspective 8O9k 842k Political and economic 382k 400k to provide 8-9 items.
Programs.
Focus on Britain 251k 300k to produce 13 issues
Contact 40k 8Ok
Total 1,983k 2,172k
7. MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION:
Many of the services under this heading are demand led. Thus the retention prints and videocassettes; the off-air service and to some extent foreign versions, are determined by demand from Posts. The level of expenditure on promotion and overseas travel should be maintained if the level of sales is to continue. If this activity is curtailed then sales levels will fa1l and exposure will be diminished.
The acquisitions activity is tending to diminish. This is in part a consequence of a faIl in the number of suitable industrial films, though in any event the royalty payments are relatively small. There are also fewer appropriate television programs available for acquisition. It is therefore suggested that the provision be reduced from £76,000 to £40,000.
Allowing for risen costs (at about 5%) and taking into account the reduction for acquisitions, the total marketing and distribution costs would be of the order of £1,260,000 less revenue of the order of £I90,000.
8. OVERALL FINANCIAL SUMMARY:
To maintain present services at a reasonable level :
Current year Next year
Production 1,983k 2 ,172k
Marketing and Distribution 1,225k 1 , 260k ----------- ---------- 3,208k 3 ,432k
Less Revenue 188k 190k
---------- ------------- 3, 020k 3, 242k ----------- -------------- October 1987
John Hall writes:
Following the usual discussions with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office this paper was largely accepted. It was my last estimates paper since by the end of 1988 I had retired. Looking back rom the vantage point of some 30 years later, some of the comments may seem rather trenchant. However it represents the nature of the advice that COI gave over the years about making effective use of moving pictures to meet the objectives of the Overseas Information Services (OIS). It was, without question, the role of OIS to make decisions about what should be made. It was the role of COI to provide the options and advice that could be accepted or ignored by the decision makers.
John Hall writes:
The Overseas Television Services Programme 1988/89 paper that is set out above was the last set of proposals that I prepared in my final year as Director of the Films and Television Division. I was concerned to provide a comprehensive view both of the present and the future of the Overseas Television Services not just for the FCO but also for my successor.