Everybody says David Elstein is clever. I’ve met him once or twice and he’s certainly an entertaining critic of TV and media in general – a real Maverick from outside the liberal public service media consensus. So it’s disappointing to learn that he’s turned into a silly old git. In this week’s New Media Age we learn that he’s convinced himself that the BBC’s mission to give away its whole archive online will devalue content created by commercial rivals and encourage people to steal it. Likewise, I suppose, ITV’s entirely free output encourages people to wander into Woolies and steal DVDs.
In which I try, after 25 years of blogging, to drop my ironic stance a bit.