Sorry, folks, been neglecting my OfcomWatch-ing duties lately. I completely missed this report, released in May by the BBC and The Work Foundation, and authored by Martin Brookes. The report, entitled, Watching Alone, Social Capital and Public Service Broadcasting, attempts to justify PSBs by reference to ’social capital’, a sort of social glue (composed of shared experiences) that holds society together.

I’d be curious to see what others think of the report. I’m, as usual, very skeptical. Arguments like this are always fairly compelling, until you step back a bit and consider the context: Give people what they really want to watch and they’ll often make different choices and those choices reflect their values, traditions, etc. No surprise, right?

To support his case, Brookes cites Cass Sunstein, who makes much of the fact that minority audiences and non-minority audiences have no overlap in viewing preferences in the U.S. multichannel environment (see page 22). I did some fact-checking of my own to see if this is still the case. Apparently it is. Nielsen Media Research shows only 20% overlap in minority and non-minority viewing preferences. Ironically, it is Rupert Murdoch’s FOX which is apparently the only social glue in U.S. media.

Social glue, I think nearly everyone can agree, is important to foster. Translating important goals into workable policies that can be adopted without harming other important goals (choice/diversity) is more challenging.