How can the BBC make Parliament more exciting? Turn up the volume

The BBC Editor's blog contains this story:

[Common's Speaker] Michael Martin, has agreed to change the rules to allow the cameras to follow the normal flow of the action, and to show reactions from around the chamber. It’s not the same thing as being there yourself, but for the first time the outside world is getting a real sense of the place – of the intimacy of the Westminster chambers and the closeness of the protagonists, standing feet away from each other across the debating chamber.

Nothing can make an empty chamber look full, or cheer up a dull and poorly made speech. But our experience so far (the experiment [in the Lords] came in at the start of term, and has now been made permanent) is that following the debate as the director sees it, and seeing MPs’ and Lords’ reactions, is going to make Parliament a lot more watchable.

The difference between hearing a speech in the Chamber and watching on television is not, however, the pictures. It is the sound.

Showing reactions would help provide a little context but it is the noise made by sedentary members that really changes the way speakers behave.

The BBC picks up the speeches on microphones and the main speaker is thus amplified so that they can be clearly heard on television. The background noise of MPs heckling can be heard, but is nowhere near as loud on television as it is in the Chamber.

When the minister or opposition spokesman is shouting aggressively at the other side this sounds terribly shrill to the watching TV audience. In the Chamber it may be the only way to be heard at all.

Broadcasters wouldn't want to be forced to play all the Chambers noise as it is heard by participants.

But I suspect that if they did, the behaviour of MPs would quickly change. Certainly, the viewer would get a fuller understanding of what is really going on.

How about that for the next innovation?

Comments

[Manjit]

How about the BBC actually informed the public a little more about what is going on Parliament? The BBC have the Daily Politics which can provide good analysis but often turns into a show to boost Andrew Neil's ego. Why not move the Daily Politics into a prime time slot on BBC2 and make it a round up of what happened in Parliament that day as well as the major political stories of the day. A great deal of excellent work is done in Parliament i.e the work of Select Committees would it not be productive to show some of this more often?