David Keith Elstein (born 14 November 1944) is an executive producer and a former chair of

openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage d ...

Early life and career

His parents were Polish orphans who were brought to Britain by the Rothschild Foundation, and ran a ladies' outfitters in Golders Green.Charlotte Higgin
"The BBC: there to inform, educate, provoke and enrage?"
''The Guardian'', 16 April 2014 On a scholarship, he was educated at

Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School Haberdashers' Boys' School (formerly Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School) is a 4–18 boys Independent school (United Kingdom) in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school was ...

, before gaining a place to read History at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

, earning a double first. After graduating at the age of 19, he became a trainee at the BBC in 1964. He spent most of his first year at the BBC on attachment to the new Centre of Cultural Studies at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. At the BBC, David Elstein worked on ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

'' and '' The Money Programme''. His subsequent production credits, include for

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

, '' The World at War'' and '' This Week'' (of which he became editor)"David Elstein"
BBC News, 14 May 1999 and elsewhere '' Weekend World'', ''A Week in Politics'', ''Yuri Nosenko, KGB'' and ''Concealed Enemies''.

Director of programmes at Thames

After a period as an independent producer working on programmes broadcast by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, he rejoined Thames Television as Director of Programmes in 1986. In this role in 1988 he signed off the controversial programme " Death on the Rock", an edition of the '' This Week'' series about Operation Flavius, the shooting in Gibraltar of three unarmed members of the IRA.David Elstei
"'Death on the Rock': 21 years later and still the official version lives on"
''openDemocracy'', 23 November 2009 Blamed in part for Thames losing its franchise to broadcast at the end of 1992, Elstein delivered the previous year's MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival. In his speech he mocked what was now an auction as

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's "National Lottery", criticised the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government for behaving with "spite" towards ITV, and called the franchise round "a death on the rack to make up for 'Death on the Rock'."Sue Summer
"Media: One of the walking wounded - David Elstein, a victim of the ITV shake-up, tells Sue Summers about his fears for quality commercial television"
''The Independent'', 26 August 1992 Elstein had hoped that a clause in the

Broadcasting Act 1990 The Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which aimed to liberalise and deregulate the British broadcasting industry by promoting competition; an example being ITV (TV network), ...

would save Thames thanks to its past reputation, since underbidding Carlton, the eventual winners, had been a deliberate choice. He found to his disappointment that "the exceptionality clause wasn't worth the paper it was written on."

Later career

After serving as head of programming at

BSkyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...

, he launched Channel 5 as its chief executive in 1997. Elstein has also been managing director of primetime productions and managing director of Brook Productions Ltd.

Other career highlights

He has been a visiting professor at the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

and

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, having been the inaugural visiting professor in Broadcast Media at Oxford in 1999. His six lectures there were entitled "The Political Structure of UK Broadcasting 1949–99". The lecture series was published in 2015 as an open access eBook by meson press. Elstein was the lead author of the Broadcasting Policy Group's publication,
Beyond The Charter: The BBC After 2006
(2006). He advocates changing the funding model of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and replacing the licence fee with voluntary subscription." Newsnight" (26 November 2009) He is also a director of Kingsbridge Capital Advisors Limited, and was previously a supervisory board member of two German cable companies. He has also chaired Screen Digest Ltd, DCD Media plc, Luther Pendragon Holdings, Sparrowhawk Media, the British Screen Advisory Council, the Commercial Radio Companies Association, Really Useful Theatres, XSN plc, Sports Network Group plc, Silicon Media Group, Civilian Content plc and the National Film and Television School. He was also a director of Virgin Media Inc and Marine Track Holdings plc.

References

* Who's Who, 2006 * Debrett's People of Distinction, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Elstein, David Keith 1944 births Living people English Jews English people of Polish-Jewish descent Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge British television executives British television producers