Even before the appointment to the board of SBS of a close associate of the PM - former speechwriter  Christopher Pearson - there were reports of angst and confusion among the staff over developments suggesting that SBS was in danger of being 'dumbed down'.

It is no coincidence that this is happening to a public broadcaster that is partly commercial. And what happens to the second public broadcaster is of concern to us supporters of the first.

The importance of being earnest - or not 

Documents which have come the scribe's [ie Errol Simper's] way indicate that SBS has been indulging itself in a bout of market research and internal soul-searching and the results are littered with dumb suggestions. SBS is, for example, in 'danger of being too earnest'. There's a need, apparently, for the broadcaster to be 'careful about being too cerebral and worthy'. Providing 'provocative' television appears to be a problem, with some material suggesting 'consumers are happy to relax, be entertained or informed, but few turn on to be provoked'.

The scribe realises SBS, with much less fuss and theatre than the ABC, struggles with a lack of funds to do many of the things it'd like to do. And it's a fact that there are those at the network who believe bigger audiences would spin off into more advertising and more lucrative advertising which would, in turn, assist revenues. But too cerebral? Too provocative? Ye gods. Glance, some evenings, at the flimsy free-to-air schedules and you'd have to say that without some of SBS's more provocative and cerebral material we'd all struggle - at least in broadcasting terms - to get anywhere near an understanding of some of the bigger issues, particularly international ones. Anyone guilty of rendering SBS non-cerebral and non-provocative should be sentenced, for life, to the Ten network. No parole. Nothing off for good conduct.

ERROL SIMPER