Jowell, minister for culture, media and sport, made the comments in an interview with The Independent today as part of a campaign to raise debate about the future of the BBC.
She told the newspaper: "A storyline on 'Coronation Street' or 'EastEnders' is a much more powerful medium from which to engage the public than certainly any bundle of government leaflets are likely to be."
Her comments come a week after the government was revealed to be the second largest advertiser in the UK, spending £138.2m in 2003, a rise of 15% on 2002.
Jowell's comments follow those of the committee leading the UK bid to host the 2012 Olympics. The London 2012 team has been in talks with the BBC about developing an Olympic bid storyline as part of an effort to build grassroot supports for Britain to host the games.
In the same interview, Jowell revealed herself to be a fan of 'Pop Idol' and 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' although she said: "If we saw many more programming hours being taken over by reality TV, I hope that you'd begin to see a viewers' revolt."
Jowell is this week launching a nationwide tour to find out what the public wants from the BBC in the run-up to the 2006 Charter Review. Viewers and listeners can have their say by visiting this .
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
