Writing on the BBC blog, James Purnell, the BBC's Director of Radio & Education, says there's no need to be "despondent" about fake news.
Today's media is "the greatest educational resource the world has ever seen" and he wants the BBC to become a "trusted guide" through this abundance of "information and misinformation".
He doesn't, however, want it to be top-down or elitist.
So there will be no canon of great works, no single-author celebrations of Western civilisation (indeed the very idea of 'civilisation' will be questioned).
Instead, there'll be "empathy" and "expertise" and an ongoing conversation with an involved audience.
Instead, there'll be "empathy" and "expertise" and an ongoing conversation with an involved audience.
It won’t be the Auntie that dispensed culture from on high. It will be much more of a thoughtful friend. Prodding us to keep our resolutions, helping us ask and find answers.
Sadly for me, I've always rather liked the idea of a canon of great works and would love to watch a modern celebration of Western civilisation, but it seems I'm out of touch with the prevailing spirit at the BBC.
The language of the piece as a whole strikes me as being quite redolent of the Blair era.
Still, at least there's going to be a lot of science on the BBC over the summer and a Neil McGregor series on 'faith and society' in the autumn.
