S4C, cost yr iaith a Dêf

Siŵr da chi wedi clywed am David Carter, y person diweddaraf i ddatgan na’r iaith Gymraeg yw bai bob dim sydd o’i le yng Nghymru. Ganol mis Mai mi ddatganodd ei gefnogaeth i’r sbwnj drefedigaethol penstiff Toby Belfield, y dyn oedd yn rhoi’r bai ar yr iaith am ansawdd gwael addysg yng Nghymru. Mae Dêf wedi treulio peth amser ar Twitter (@SplottDave – anfonwch neges Gymraeg iddo!) yn rhoi cannoedd o negeseuon am y mater, ac yn blocio cannoedd o Gymry wnaeth rhoi neges iddo yn y Gymraeg am sbort.

Yn naturiol mae’r stori ar Wêls Onlein am sylwadau Belfield wedi denu llond llaw o bobl gwrth-Gymraeg i ddatgan eu cefnogaeth yn y sylwadau, gan gynnwys Dêf ei hun. Un pwynt gododd ymysg y llond o gachu oedd bod yr iaith yn costio “about £200 million”, gyda £100 miliwn ar gyfer S4C. Pob tro mae nhw’n malu cachu am pa mor ddrud yw’r iaith, S4C yw’r unig beth sylweddol alla nhw feddwl sydd yn “costio”.

Nid y tro cyntaf i mi glywed y ddadl, a dwi wedi sylwi bod rhai i weld yn derbyn y pwynt. Dwi’n dadlau, in mai besd Ingylish, na ddylid ystyried S4C fel gwario ar yr iaith am y rhesymau dwi’n nodi iddo:

Your £200,000,000 figure for the cost of the Welsh language is deliberately exaggerated to convince yourself that the problems in society should be blamed on something that you don’t understand.

Half of your figure is the funding for S4C. To be fair, you’re not the only one who categorizes S4C funds as “spending millions on the Welsh language”. Many people do it, including some Welsh speakers. But there are two major flaws in this argument:

1. S4C is not just for Welsh speakers

The vast majority of programmes on S4C offer English subtitles which means that any non-Welsh speaker who understands English could follow what’s going on. If you look at the listings, you’ll see all the programmes which have subtitles available for them (see http://www.s4c.cymru/e_listing… ). They even offer English commentary on their live rugby and football matches. Furthermore, S4C programmes can be watched online via Clic or IPlayer, so it can be watched all over the world.

Therefore you cannot label S4C funding as something that’s exclusive for the Welsh language and the Welsh people, because its content is accessible to everyone who has an interest. Online demand for S4C has soared (source: https://www.cable.co.uk/news/w… )

2. The economic impact of S4C in Wales

The vast majority of S4C funding comes from the BBC license fee, and only about 2% of the license fee goes to S4C. Which is fair, given the amount of Welsh people who pay it. If the BBC stopped funding S4C, it would be highly unlikely that the money saved by them would be spent on NHS Wales or anything else in Wales. And it would threaten hundreds (if thousands) of jobs who depend on this fund. This includes the 200 people who work for S4C and about 2,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout Wales as a result of the programmes it commissions. A list of current commissions is available here: http://www.s4c.cymru/productio…

As the anti-nationalist Tory MP Glyn Davies pointed out in a debate last year:

“I was involved in economic development for the whole of Wales around the time that S4C was created. There was a blossoming of the creative industries. A huge number of small businesses set up in parts of Wales where there had been depopulation, and to which it was difficult to attract other forms of business. S4C does not produce its own work but commissions it, and a large proportion of those commissions go not to the BBC but to independent companies. Today we have four major companies that produce work for S4C. Those include: Boom Pictures, a successful international company; Tinopolis, a major company that produces “Question Time”; Rondo; and Cwmni Da, a company that has sold programmes to China.”

(source: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/… )

So, far from being a waste of £100 million as you lazily claim, the fund for S4C is an important investment to the Welsh economy, in return for the contribution the people of Wales give to the license fee itself.

Which leaves your figure for the cost of the Welsh language at £100 million. Which is still deliberately exaggerated for the purpose of blaming it on the problems in society. Or you can show how exactly you came up with the figure, with evidence.

Mae ymdrech anobeithiol dilynol Dêf i osgoi’r pwyntiau uchod yn dweud bob dim amdano (mae’r “ddadl” o fewn y sylwad diweddaraf ar hyn o bryd). Nid ymdrech i gael trafodaeth efo Dêf ydi’r uchod. Gwneud pwynt ydw i sydd, yn fy marn i, angen ei ddweud yn amlach pan mae rhai yn cwyno am yr “hundreds of millions wasted on the language”. A waeth i mi ddweud o wrth Dêf tra dwi wrthi. Oeddwn i ddim yn disgwyl, na heb gael, ateb call ac adeiladol.

Mae hi reit amlwg fod Dêf wedi ymuno a’r cwlt hollol wallgof “Glasnost UK”, cwlt sydd yn cymryd geiriau’r arweinydd Jacques Protic fel yr efengyl, a mae unrhyw un sy’n anghytuno yn rhywfath o Nazi Nationalist Stalinist Oppressor. Yn ei wefan Glasnost.org.uk, mae Jacques yn cymharu sefyllfa’r Saeson yng Nghymru efo Staliniaeth ac Apartheid. Dim angen dweud mwy.