Leading article: No greatness without artistic freedom

 

Monday 28 November 2011 20:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

With the death of Ken Russell, one of the last links to the golden age of arts broadcasting has been broken. Russell cut his directorial teeth on Monitor, the groundbreaking series with which the BBC brought the arts to life in the 1950s and 60s, triumphantly fulfilling the Reithian mission to inform, educate and entertain. Series such as Arena, The South Bank Show and Imagine are Monitor's direct descendants.

Those who made films for Monitor – others included John Schlesinger and John Berger – enjoyed the kind of free hand that later directors could only dream of; their work was all the better for it. Arts documentaries were at the heart of the schedules, not shunted off into the twilight zone.

Russell was a true British maverick whose problem, his critics would say, was the very freedom he enjoyed. But better the freedom to go over the top than to have arts programmes hemmed in by the need to play safe.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in