Your report on Mark Thompson’s forthcoming Steve Hewlett memorial lecture highlights his concern about the emergence of an “Airstrip One” status for the UK (Thompson: US streaming giants a threat to ‘cultural sovereignty’, 25 September). Those who listen to the BBC World Service at night on the Radio 4 wavelength will have noticed the astonishingly high proportion of both feature material and news reports from and about the US. By contrast, broadcasts from and about Europe, the Commonwealth and the rest of the world are disproportionately few.
It seems to me that perhaps the BBC has taken an easy option in utilising US material because it is in a version of English, and that it or some of its staff may have an unconscious obsession with the US. Culturally, Airstrip One is already being constructed.
Greg Conway
Amersham, Buckinghamshire
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