Another Dorothy Bowers quote. It refers to the BBC of course.
The mute acceptance by their audiences of whatever they cared to give them was too much taken for granted. What was it to be outspoken when nobody could call your bluff? Mr. Flood had reminded him of his portable wireless at home; how often had its bland assumption of authority provoked in him a desire to shout it down!
Dorothy Bowers - Shadows Before (1939)
The mute acceptance by their audiences of whatever they cared to give them was too much taken for granted. What was it to be outspoken when nobody could call your bluff? Mr. Flood had reminded him of his portable wireless at home; how often had its bland assumption of authority provoked in him a desire to shout it down!
Dorothy Bowers - Shadows Before (1939)
3 comments:
Perhaps the plummy received pronunciation based on educated speech in southern England and used by the BBC conferred a certain class authority.
Now that regional accents are considered more authentic then the 'authority' may be reduced.
A barista in a coffee shop near me speaks in received pronunciation and it is quite striking. I imagine she was born 'down south'.
The BBC are expert in creating mood music: the selection of particular stories, the prominence they are given, which politicians they report on, and careful crafting of language so as to create an assumption of universal approval or condemnation. The recent (including today's) reporting of Suella Braverman's ideas on asylum seekers is an excellent example. There's not a word on how some people, including MPs, support her. Anyone might think that she is some kind of renegade, out of touch with her party, and the general public...
Of course, getting hold of a news story and imparting spin is a lot easier than finding real news. The former is what arts and humanities graduates are trained to do when writing essays.
DJ - we've encountered someone similar to your barista who speaks in received pronunciation - a checkout operator in our local Sainsbury's. Whether a younger person would notice I'm not sure. I suppose it could be a disadvantage for a Labour politician.
Sam - yes that's its expertise, BBC mood music. Although if I catch accidental snippets it now grates, probably because I haven't watched it as a viewer for years. The BBC conditions viewers to be viewers.
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