Work · Political Philosophy & Ethics (20th–21st c.)
A Question of Trust
The BBC Reith Lectures: transparency and audit culture do not restore trust; intelligent accountability might.
Introduction
Onora O’Neill gave these five BBC Reith Lectures in 2002, when she was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge; they were published as a short book the same year. She asks whether there really is a crisis of trust or rather a culture of suspicion, and discusses human rights, terrorism, accountability and the press. Her main target is the audit culture of performance indicators and targets in public services, which in her view distorts professional work without making institutions more trustworthy. Transparency alone floods people with information they cannot assess; what is needed is intelligent accountability and a press that is itself accountable.
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