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National BBC broadcast archive in Aberystwyth in doubt

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By Huw Thomas
BBC Wales arts and media correspondent

Plans to create a broadcast archive for Wales have been thrown into doubt after the Welsh Government withdrew support.

The £9m project at the National Library of Wales (NLW) in Aberystwyth was due to become home to 160,000 recordings from the BBC Wales programme archive.

Culture minister Lord Elis-Thomas has told the library he cannot commit £1m to the plans in their current form.

The move has been called “outrageous” by opposition politicians and NLW said it was “disappointed”.

But the Welsh Government said the plan may put the library at long-term risk.

Plaid Cymru AM Dr Dai Lloyd said Wales faced the “loss and destruction of an irreplaceable archive” and said Lord Elis-Thomas’s actions were “completely unacceptable”.

Dr Lloyd added: “He is foregoing his responsibilities as a minister and putting the entire project at risk.”

BBC Wales has said it is “disappointed” the project will not go ahead in its planned form, as it would have seen extensive broadcasting history “gifted to the National Library of Wales for everyone to explore and enjoy”.

While largely comprising of BBC Wales programmes, the new archive was also expected to contain material from S4C and ITV Wales.

The project would allow the BBC Wales archive to be preserved when the broadcaster leaves its headquarters in Cardiff, while the public would be able to access the material digitally at special viewing centres in Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Carmarthen and Wrexham.

There would also be regular events and activities related to the archive at the National Library in Aberystwyth and the three viewing centres.

Lottery funding of £5m has been agreed in principle, but a final application to the Heritage Lottery Fund is yet to be submitted by the National Library.

‘Disappointed’

In a letter to library president Rhodri Glyn Thomas seen by BBC Wales, culture minister Lord Elis-Thomas said he wanted to make clear his dissatisfaction ahead of a meeting of the Library’s trustees on Friday, who are due to make a final decision on the plans.

He said: “Based on the project plan and its financial estimates, I remain unwilling to commit either the £1m capital funding that has been requested or to provide strategic support for the National Broadcast Archive in its current form.”

Lord Elis-Thomas notes that he had previously requested a review and a thorough redesign of the project, but this had not taken pace. He added that steps needed to be taken “to ensure the National Broadcast Archive does not endanger the financial stability of the National Library in future”.

While Lord Elis-Thomas said he accepted some discussions about the project’s long-term sustainability had since taken place between the National Library, BBC Wales and other interested parties, he remained “disappointed” that the work had happened “so late in the process”.

The letter said information previously provided by the library “makes clear that some of the library’s existing activities are likely to be negatively impacted” by the project.

A Welsh Government spokesman added: “Whilst we have expressed support in principle for the ambition of the National Library of Wales to establish a National Broadcast Archive for Wales, the Welsh Government will not be supporting the project in its current form.

“We have concerns that it could potentially risk the financial stability of the National Library in the long-term.”

The library’s president Mr Thomas, said they were “very disappointed”.

He added: “The library’s board of trustees will discuss the minister’s decision at its meeting on Friday before making any further comment.”

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Lottery support for £9m Wales broadcast archive project

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A £9m project to create a national broadcast archive has been awarded a £5m lottery grant.

The National Library of Wales and BBC Wales will develop plans for public access to the broadcaster’s archive.

This will be at four digital hubs in Aberystwyth, Wrexham, Carmarthen and Cardiff.

National Library of Wales president Rhodri Glyn Thomas said it would “safeguard this vital source of our nation’s heritage”.

BBC Wales’ archive has about 160,000 recordings which date back to the 1930s and includes reports on World War Two, the Aberfan disaster and the miners’ strike.

About 1,000 programme clips will also be made accessible online for people to watch.

How old?

  • The oldest radio material held in the BBC Wales archive include assorted tapes dating back to the late 1930s and would have been recorded for the BBC Home Service
  • The oldest television material held dates from the 1950s and includes Welsh language news and current affairs programmes “Sul i Sul” and “Cefndir”
  • There are also reels of assorted football and rugby fixtures broadcast in English from the same period

Heritage Lottery Fund has provided money so the library and BBC Wales can produce a detailed business plan by March to be considered for a £4.9m grant.

It comes as BBC Wales prepares to move to a new building in Cardiff city centre in 2019 – as part of this, it is digitising radio and TV archive material.

The National Library is also working with the corporation to store original recordings at its Aberystwyth building.

Rhodri Talfan Davies, director of BBC Wales, said the “unprecedented partnership” would make “these extraordinary resources available to the entire Welsh public”.

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Wales’ national broadcast archive gets £4.7m grant

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A £9m project to create a national broadcast archive is set to go ahead after securing a £4.7m lottery grant.

The National Heritage Lottery money follows an initial £160,000 grant awarded last year to develop the scheme.

Wales’ archive, the first of its kind in the UK, will be at four digital hubs in Aberystwyth, Wrexham, Carmarthen and Cardiff.

It will house about 240,000 hours of broadcasting footage from Wales.

The National Library of Wales and BBC Wales developed the scheme for public access to the broadcaster’s archive.

National Lottery Heritage Fund Wales director Richard Bellamy said the project would “play a vital role in bringing together the nation’s broadcast history”.

The project has also received £1m from the Welsh Government, £2m from the library’s private funds and £2.5m of digital content and support from the BBC.

  • It aims to be a “chronicle of the life of the nation” and “Wales’ national memory”
  • Material would include footage from World War Two, Aberfan, the miners’ strike, battles over devolution, sporting moments and news items
  • The BBC has been broadcasting in Wales since 1923 and has 95,000 audio tapes, 64,000 video tapes – being digitised – and thousands of cans of film
  • It would join ITV, S4C and screen and sound archives collected at Aberystwyth
  • Digitised content would be available to view by the public and researchers at the National Library, as well as four digital hubs

While the archive will be housed at the National Library of Wales and accessed by the four hubs, there will be several mobile centres for rural communities.

About 1,500 BBC Wales archive clips of material will be made available for anyone to view online at home.

Pedr ap Llwyd, chief executive of the National Library of Wales, said: “We intend to safeguard this vital source of our nation’s heritage for present and future generations and use it to help establish the first National Broadcast Archive in the UK.”

The plan also includes more than 300 educational events for young people and wellbeing for older people, with material hoped to stimulate memories for those with dementia.

Rhodri Talfan Davies, BBC Wales director, described it as “a treasure trove”.

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, deputy minister for culture, called it an “ambitious and nationally-significant project”.

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2 Plead in Theft and Burning Of Coffin With Rock Singer

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See the article in its original context from
November 7, 1973 Buy Reprints
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About the Archive
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

WEST LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 (AP)—Two men accused of stealing a coffin containing the body of Gram Parsons, the rock singer, and burning it in the desert with the body inside pleaded guilty yesterday to misdemeanor theft charges.

Philip C. Kaufman, 38 years old, of Van Nuys, and Michael D. Martin, 26, of Hollywood, were given 30‐day suspended sentences and fined $300 each on the reduced charges. They were originally charged with grand theft.

They were also ordered to pay $708 in expenses to the funeral home.

Mr. Kaufman and Mr. Martin were former business associates of Mr. Parsons, a former member of The Byrds rock group. Officials said the coffin containing Mr. Parson’s body had been stolen Sept. 20 from loading dock at Los Angeles International Airport, where it was awaiting shipments to New Orleans, the singer’s home town, for burial.

Facebook yet to decide which political advertising rules it will roll out in Australia

by www.abc.net.au Leave a Comment

Facebook will wait until Australia’s federal election date is revealed to decide which, if any, of its planned political advertising restrictions it will roll out in a bid to reduce potential interference.

Key points:

  • Australia, Indonesia, Israel and the Philippines among the nations holding key votes this year
  • Facebook’s directors say they know rules will not be perfect and want ongoing improvements
  • Different policies and transparency measures will be developed to reflect local laws after speaking with governments

As the largest social media service in nearly every big country, Facebook since 2016 has become a means for politicians and their adversaries to distribute fake news and other propaganda.

Buying Facebook ads can widen the audience for such material, but some of those influencing efforts may violate election rules and the company’s policies.

Under pressure from authorities around the world, Facebook last year introduced several initiatives to increase oversight of political ads.

This year, it will extend some of its political advertising rules and tools for curbing election interference to India, Nigeria, Ukraine and the European Union before significant votes.

Beginning on Wednesday (local time) in Nigeria, only advertisers located in the country will be able to run electoral ads.

The move mirrors a policy unveiled during an Irish referendum last May, said Katie Harbath, Facebook’s director of global politics and outreach.

The same policy will take effect in Ukraine in February.

Nigeria holds a presidential election on February 16, while Ukraine will follow on March 31.

In India, where elections are due between April and May, Facebook will place electoral ads in a searchable online library starting in February, according to Rob Leathern, a director of product management at the company.

What about Australia?

Australia, Indonesia, Israel and the Philippines are among the nations holding key votes this year for which Facebook said it is still weighing policies.

Facebook expects to provide more information around plans for Australia’s federal election when the date on which it will be held has been announced.

“We’re learning from every country,” Mr Leathern said.

“We know we’re not going to be perfect, but our goal is continuing, ongoing improvement.”

Facebook believes that holding the ads in a library for seven years is a key part of fighting interference, he added.

The library will resemble archives brought to the US, Brazil and Britain last year.

The newfound transparency drew some applause from elected officials and campaign accountability groups, but they also criticised Facebook for allowing advertisers in the US to obfuscate their identities.

The Indian archive will contain contact information for some advertising buyers or their official regulatory certificates.

For individuals buying political ads, Facebook said it would ensure their listed name matches government-issued documents.

The European Union would get a version of that authorisation and transparency system ahead of the bloc’s parliamentary elections in May, Mr Leathern said.

What is Facebook planning?

The ad hoc approach, with varying policies and transparency depending on the region, reflects local laws and conversations with governments and civil society groups, Ms Harbath said.

That means extra steps to verify identities and locations of political ad buyers in the US and India will not be introduced in every big election this year, Mr Leathern said.

In addition, ad libraries in some countries will not include what the company calls “issue” ads, Mr Leathern said.

Facebook’s US archive includes ads about much-debated issues such as climate change and immigration policy, even though they may not directly relate to a ballot measure.

Mr Leathern and Ms Harbath said they hoped to have a set of tools that applies to advertisers globally by the end of June.

“Our goal was to get to a global solution,” Ms Harbath said.

“And so, until we can get to that in June, we had to look at the different elections and what we think we can do.”

Other Facebook teams remain focused on identifying problematic political behaviour unrelated to ads.

In December, researchers working for a US Senate committee concluded that the Russian Government’s Internet Research Agency used social media ads and regular posts on inauthentic accounts to promote then presidential candidate Donald Trump to millions of Americans.

Russia denied the accusation.

Reuters/ABC

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