Response

Rethinking the BBC Anyone who thinks the Beeb has solved its strategic problems needs a long period of introspection ( Michael Lyons may be a greater loss to the BBC than Jay Hunt, 20 September ). BBC1 is a mishmash of ho-hum drama series, missable comedies, quizzes, daytime bilge and soaps, with some of the best shows hidden away on BBC3. BBC2 should have much of what is on BBC4 on it (not to mention Sky Arts, with concerts, operas and live original drama). Only Radios 3, 4 and 5 come anywhere near providing quality public service programming. Cutting Panorama to 30 minutes is exactly the problem: the BBC is supposed to be a public service broadcaster. People say they love the BBC, but watch it less and less. weejohnnie online • Hunt will undoubtedly make Channel 4 more boring – which most advertisers will love and this will help them compete with ITV1. This is a great opportunity for the BBC to pause and think what it can provide beyond the mind-numbing marketing cliches of "value", "quality" and "trust". It needs to be different, not chasing the same ball. loulabelle online Opening the aid debate A hub like this is urgently needed, for all the reasons that Madeleine Bunting lists ( A gate into the secret garden of aid, 20 September). I hope two points will be included. First, this hub or forum needs to be open to voices and views FROM the countries and societies we are so concerned about. Second, I hope it will also start a serious discussion, long overdue, of the kind of visual images that the press and the NGOs make and disseminate of human beings in the "developing countries" – and the stereotypes that these images perpetuate. ariadnevdv online Local heroes Good to see the Guardian covering my local community TV news – but round here, local news is big ( Witney TV's Top Gear scoop puts it on the map , 20 September). I work for a local community newspaper in west Oxfordshire, and we regularly get to talk to [David] Cameron, [Jeremy] Clarkson and the like, and have a strong, and growing, readership. The nub of the demand seems to be, as Maggie Brown writes, that the mainstream news fails to cover our area. Our ITV regional news comes from Southampton; BBC News is from Southampton or Birmingham. Our local newspapers – in Banbury or Oxford – only give us token bits of coverage. We have to find alternative ways of ensuring that local people know what is going on. globalnomad online