Illuminated, Charter Renewal, News Avoidance

Illuminated is Radio 4's home for powerful, original audio storytelling - and recently we've heard from listeners who were moved by a documentary called Functioning, about the effect of alcohol addiction on two women's lives. Andrea Catherwood talks to the programme's producer Jodie Taylor, and Radio 4 documentary commissioner Hugh Levinson, and hears a remarkable insight into how the programme came to be. Feedback's listeners are pretty clued up when it comes to giving their thoughts to the BBC, but we came across one last week who seemed to know more than most - as it turned out, he did a PhD on charter renewal. Andrea talks to Dr Tom Chivers, academic at Goldsmiths, University of London, about what the BBC can do to reach its audience during a consultation that could result in radical change. And following our discussion of news avoidance on last week's programme, we hear from a listener who has discovered his own method for avoiding news that feels excessive, or irrelevant. Presenter: Andrea Catherwood Producer: Pauline Moore Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie Executive Producer: David Prest A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

You can listen to Illuminated, Charter Renewal, News Avoidance online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Illuminated, Charter Renewal, News Avoidance is an episode from Feedback by BBC.

This episode is 28:17 long.

This episode was published on Mar 12, 2026.

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