The UK communications regulatory body, Ofcom, has appointed a leading academic as chair of its national advisory committee for Scotland.

Professor Philip Schlesinger, professor in cultural policy and Academic Director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Glasgow, will head the eight-person committee, which is charged with representing Scottish views to the London-based regulator.

Prof Schlesinger is a respected authority on the media and culture. He has been a member of the committee since 2004 and succeeds Thomas Prag, who has served as chair of the committee since 2006.

Prof Schlesinger has an international reputation for his research and has provided evidence to committees at Westminster and the Scottish Parliament as well as the Competition Commission. He is currently researching government policy on creativity in the film and television industries.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Royal Society of Arts, and is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and is a member of the Scottish Funding Council’s Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee.

His appointment comes at an important time for broadcasting in Scotland. The future of public service broadcasting is currently being reviewed by Ofcom and has been a major focus of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission, which reported last September.

Prof Schlesinger said: “Scotland is facing major challenges across the whole field of communications, from broadcasting to broadband.”

“The Advisory Committee for Scotland has a key role in debating the issues and informing the regulatory process. It is a privilege to play a part in that.”

Further information:
For more information contact Stuart Forsyth in the University of Glasgow Media Relations Office on 0141 330 4831 or email s.forsyth@admin.gla.ac.uk

First published: 2 December 2008

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