Impact case study database

This research has helped bring about change to the media landscape in Wales resulting in:

1. Improved democratic scrutiny of devolved media policy.

2. Increased investment in Welsh television production through advocacy for change in BBC regions and nations strategy.

3. Greater understanding of the place of innovation in screen production and its value both to speakers of minority-languages and to the industry as content creators.

4. An improved, updated statutory remit for S4C reflective of the digital era.

5. Better informed public debate regarding the consequences of the democratic deficit and what this means for an informed civil society.

1a)CMCSN research has informed the Senedd Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee on Welsh broadcasting and helped improve democratic scrutiny (see 5.1, 5.2 and 5.4)

‘Professor McElroy’s contributions to the Committee’s work have improved my understanding of media policy, and that of politicians’. (5. 4 )

Before the Wales Media Audit 2015 (3.5) was published, the National Assembly for Wales had no designated forum through which to scrutinise media policy. In the Audit we recommended improved monitoring of media in Wales drawing on academic expertise to highlight emerging media developments. The Audit galvanised the legislature to create the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee (CWLCC). Since its creation in 2016, this committee has delivered improved scrutiny via numerous public inquiries.

“It is worrying that specific media provision for Welsh audiences is in decline. One result of this is insufficient scrutiny of decisions affecting Wales […] This paucity of information may also contribute to an ill-informed population. Moreover, given the high value that Welsh audiences place on seeing themselves and Welsh life on screen, the current service and any prospect of further decline, particularly in non-news programming, is concerning” (5.1a, p.24)

In 2016, McElroy gave oral and written evidence to the Parliamentary ‘ Welsh Affairs Committee Inquiry into Welsh Broadcasting’ (5.1a). Several of their findings cited our research

in their final report (5.1a) including the need to improve scrutiny of broadcasting and the representation of Wales on screen, thus: “ Research conducted by the University of South Wales and the BBC Audience Council for Wales concluded that audiences in Wales value the programming produced in, and representing images of, the country. The research stated that “such representations strengthen a collective sense of cultural and social identity”’ and ‘ the University of South Wales concluded that important elements of Welsh national life are failing to be captured on screen.” Broadcasting in Wales, Section 4, ‘Portrayal of Wales on Screen’

McElroy and other researchers in CMCSN have regularly been invited to supply research insights to inform CWLCC inquiries (5.2). This includes McElroy’s evidence on ‘The Future of S4C’ (8 March 2017) (5.2c); McElroy’s and Hannah’s (CMSN PGR) evidence to ‘Film and High-End TV Production’ (10 May 2018) ( 5.2d), whose final report launched at USW in May 2019; and McElroy’s evidence to ‘The Future of PSB: Small Screen, Big Debate’ (20 November 2019). (5.2e)

1b)McElroy’s research helped deliver informed scrutiny through her advice to the regulator, Ofcom (see 5.6)

‘Professor McElroy’s research is an invaluable asset to Ofcom as it develops its policy in relation to the media in Wales…She is uniquely placed to provide advice to Ofcom on these matters and to help shape the regulator’s response to a rapidly changing media environment.’

In 2017, McElroy was appointed by DCMS to Ofcom’s Advisory Committee Wales (ACW) (2017-2021) to advise on the impact of communications and broadcasting policy in Wales. For example, in 2019/20, she advised Ofcom to scrutinise Channel 4’s promised nations strategy to deliver ‘For all the UK’. This led to the Channel 4 team appearing before ACW in March 2020 to give evidence of improvements in investment in Wales. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McElroy advised Ofcom of the public impact of differential media coverage of Devolved vs. UK governments’ guidance to citizens’ understanding of lockdown rules.

2)McElroy’s research with IWA lead to recommendations that resulted in increased investment in TV production in Wales (see 5.2 and 5.3)

‘Professor McElroy played a pivotal role in contributing to the research which formed the basis of the 2015 IWA Wales Media Audit and, together with other members of the IWA’s Media Policy Group, worked collaboratively with us on shaping its recommendations’ (5.3).

The 2015 Media Audit contributed to substantially increased pressure on the BBC to increase its investment in TV production Wales. We evidenced a significant reduction since 2008 in spend on English- language TV in Wales representing a real-terms decline of 30% and demonstrated there had been a 48% reduction in the total hours per week of output made for Wales. In response, a key recommendation made in the Wales Media Audit (2015) was that ‘investment in the BBC’s services in Wales should be increased’ (3.5) substantially as a priority for BBC.

This had impact firstly through being taken up by National Assembly for Wales’ 2015 report on ‘BBC Charter’ (2015) (5.2a) and the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee’s ‘The Big Picture’ on broadcasting in Wales (2017) (5.2b), which argued for substantial investment increases in English-language drama and broadcasting about Wales. Secondly, our research had impact when the call for greater investment found realisation in February 2017 with the BBC announcing an extra £8.5million investment in Wales. In 2017/18, this resulted in new popular drama series such as Keeping Faith/Un Bore Mercher, which had 17 million iPlayer download requests and was one of the most popular ever to appear on BBC iPlayer. This co-production with S4C was also the realisation of the Audit’s recommendation that S4C and BBC Wales ‘maximise their collaboration across radio and television, without losing the distinctiveness of each others’ services’ (3.5).

3)CMCSN’s screen research secured investment in innovation for screen sector growth

McElroy’s research (3.2, 3.3, 3.6) on bilingual screen production, exemplified by the 2015-16 AHRC TV Production in Small Nations Network (5.5), was instrumental in 2017-18 in helping secure Clwstwr. It is one of just 9 UK Creative Clusters funded by AHRC’s Creative Economy programme and Welsh government. CMCSN’s research and industry collaborations underpin Clwstwr’s focus on R&D for screen innovation. Clwstwr leverages more than £1million annually of new investment for R&D in Cardiff’s screen industries which McElroy has a key role in delivering as lead Co-Investigator and programme Co-Director. More than 60 industry/HE R&D projects have been funded to date including USW’s 2019 collaboration with the company Painting Practice to develop a new product, Plan V. Plan V is a virtual studio that allows a TV producer to visualise virtually-created sets combining VR and AR to plunge the user into deeper levels of immersion. As part of this Clwstwr R&D project, Plan V had its first full industrial application on His Dark Materials, produced at Wolf Studios, Cardiff for BBC/HBO. It became BBC’s most watched new show in 5 years ( 7.2million) and gained millions more worldwide. David McCulloch (exec producer) said ‘ Plan V was key to bringing the books of His Dark Materials to the screen…we would have been lost without it’.

4) CMCSN research substantially advanced the case for an updated S4C statutory remit

McElroy’s research (3.6) has helped drive forward the agenda on digital innovation in Welsh-language broadcasting, which is vital to normalising the Welsh language in contemporary life. A major plank in this agenda has been securing a statutory digital remit for S4C allowing it to modernise (see 3.3). CMCSN’s research situated S4C in Context (3.4) for DCMS’ 2017-18 Independent Review of S4C (conducted by Euryn Ogwen Williams), providing a comparative analysis of S4C in relation to other small nations’ broadcasters and demonstrating the need for greater digital innovation and responsiveness to Welsh-speaking audiences within and beyond Wales. It delivered a convincing case for a new statutory digital remit for S4C by framing it within wider international evidence of the role of PSB in sustaining minority-languages. Direct citation of CMCSN research is made by Euryn Ogwen Williams in his DCMS ‘Building an S4C for the Future’ 2017. The case for a new statutory digital remit was accepted by the UK Government Response to the S4C Independent Review on 29 March 2018 where Matt Hancock, then Secretary of State DCMS, stated ‘Updating the remit will allow S4C to make its content available on a wider range of platforms - in Wales, across the UK and abroad’.

5) McElroy’s research better informed public debate in Wales through a diverse media dissemination process

‘Wales is facing a media market failure that will leave the nation with a deficit of reliable information.’ ( Maggie Brown The Guardian (11/11/15).

Media policy in multi-level governmental nations is complex and can seem irrelevant to citizens and licence-fee payers. McElroy’s research is the basis of her public communication to impact and improve the public’s understanding of how policy shapes what we see on screen. She provides expert interviews to both mainstream UK and Welsh media and specialist media (e.g. Welsh Football Magazine 2017). The Wales Media Audit (3.5) gained UK-wide media coverage. On 11/11/15, McElroy was interviewed on the Audit’s findings of market failure and underinvestment in programmes for Wales on the Radio 4 Media Show, the premier weekly programme examining UK media, alongside Ian Hargreaves, former editor of The Independent described the Audit as ‘ a brilliant pull-together of things you never knew […]get reading and rejoice in this thorough and classy piece of work ’. McElroy communicated Audit findings to Welsh citizens on Radio Wales’ Good Morning Wales which advanced public debate on media in Wales and increased pressure on broadcasters such as the BBC to improve investment in Welsh productions.