CULTURAL ICONS

DR is as much of a cultural icon in Denmark as the BBC is in the U.K. Like the Beeb, it started as a radio station, and then branched into television. Its television news is still the most widely respected, even if it is not necessarily the most watched.

Also like the Beeb, it runs a number of other cultural activities, including orchestras. They are very popular, not least when they tour the provinces and bring a bit of culture to outlying areas.

Again, like the Beeb, DR is funded by the state in the form of a licence fee, and there is pressure to get "more bang for the buck". In June, the political parties running media policy agreed to cut the funding going to DR in 2015 by kr.75 million. Cuts would have to come.

Rather than salami slice, DR management decided to do away with one of its orchestras, that covering light entertainment. The only problem with that is that this is the orchestra that is most popular with the general public (i.e. the plebs living in the sticks, not the cultural elite living in Copenhagen). The same politicians who had ordered the cuts quickly discovered that their constituents were unhappy. This was followed shortly afterwards by calls to save the orchestra in question. More than calls, in fact. Today, a non-Governmental Parliamentary majority voted to force the Culture Minister to find a solution that saves the orchestra.

I am left with the impression that DR management have played a canny game. The whole point about cultural icons is that they include buttons that can be pressed when needed.

Walter Blotscher