Bye-bye to Jocelyn Hay (VoLaV founder ) a fine example of Public Service

Very sad to hear of the death of Jocelyn Hay at the age of 86.

Many people will not have heard of Jocelyn but her work lobbying the broadcasters here (in UK) has helped us retain many of the features of British broadcasting which are still held in such high esteem around the world.
The Voice of the Listener was launched over 30 years ago and mutated into the Voice of The Listener and Viewer (VoLaV) , it was not a censorious body in the mould of Mary Whitehouse's organisation  - The National Viewers and Listeners Association  (which it was and still is sometimes confused with) and Jocelyn herself was no Mary Whitehouse figure.

Jocelyn sought to limit the worst excesses of commercialism in broadcasting and ensure that it met its social goals in trying to meet the goals inclusivity.
Jocelyn was always well prepared in advance of her quizzing of both the broadcasters and the ministers appointed to legislate on broadcasting and was rarely bettered by them.

I saw her at a number of sessions at Westminster, Channel 4, The Royal television Society  and the BBC and it was impressive what a firm grasp she had of the salient points but how she was also able to listen to the argument as it developed.

Hopefully Colin Browne will continue to carry forward the important work that Jocelyn started all those years ago.

(It's good to see that a Wikipedia page has started for VoLaV - I noted yesterday that there wasn't one)