If this were true it would be lunacy! I thought that the focus of the speech was more on Burnham’s fear that TV is playing safe than a moral panic about the internet. Burnham says:

I detect a tendency towards safety first and the tried-and-tested, and away from innovation, risk-taking and new talent.

This of course ignores the power of the internet to be innovative, while harking back to some golden age where we all watched collectively, limited to a choice of three channels. Television is a great way of creating programmes and the web is a superb way of connecting people and making it possible to find things. What’s important is that people think creatively of how to use both well.

I thought you might be interested to know that I read your piece about Andy Burnham’s comments at the RTS event, and posted an update about it on my “Why IBC?” blog – http://whyibc.typepad.com/whyibc/2008/10/is-it-right-to.html

Regards

Colin