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Criticism of the BBC



The BBC has been criticised for bias in its coverage of the global warming debate. Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman argues that the corporation's correspondents "travel the globe to tell the audience of the dangers of climate change while leaving a vapour trail which will make the problem even worse", and "the BBC's coverage of the issue abandoned the pretence of impartiality long ago".[58]

At the 2007 Edinburgh Television Festival Peter Horrocks (Head of TV News) and Peter Barron (Editor, Newsnight), said that the BBC should not campaign on the issue of climate change. They critcised proposed plans for a BBC Comic Relief style day of programmes around climate change. Mr Horrocks was quoted as saying: "I absolutely don't think we should do that because it's not impartial. It's not our job to lead people and proselytise about it."

Peter Barron was quoted as adding: "It is absolutely not the BBC's job to save the planet. I think there are a lot of people who think that, but it must be stopped."[59]

Peter Horrocks later outlined the BBC's position on the BBC Editors Blog ("No Line").[60]

The plans for a day of programmes about environmental issues were abandoned in September 2007. A BBC spokesperson said this was "absolutely not" because of concerns about impartiality.[61]

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Cleaning up of "moral standards"

The National Viewers' and Listeners' Association was formed in 1965 by Mary Whitehouse to "clean up" the BBC,[62] claiming that it "was responsible for the moral collapse in the country". The late Mary Whitehouse's line was pursued by her and her supporters for many years to no very great effect.

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"Dumbing down"

In the past few years, there have been claims that the corporation has simplified its programmes in an effort to reach a broader audience, particularly the Breakfast, Six O'Clock and Ten O'Clock news programmes.

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'London-centrism'

On 1 November 2007 it was reported that Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, criticised the BBC as too London-centric, paying less attention to news stories outside of the capital.[63]

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Funding

Main article: Television licensing in the United Kingdom

The fact that the BBC's domestic services are funded by television licence fees is criticised by its competitors and others on a number of grounds.[64]

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BBC Russia

On 2007-8-17 it was reported that FM broadcast of the BBC's Russian language service in Russia would be dropped, leaving only medium and short wave broadcasts in Russia. Financial organisation Finam, which owns the FM radio service now dropping the BBC Russia broadcasts, through its spokesman Igor Ermachenkov, said that "Any media which is government-financed is propaganda - it's a fact, it's not negative".[65] A spokesman, for the BBC responded: "Although the BBC is funded by the UK government... a fundamental principle of its constitution and its regulatory regime is that it is editorially independent of the UK government." Reports put the development in the context of criticism of the Russian government for curbing media freedom and strained UK-Russian relations.[65] Reporters Without Borders condemned the move as censorship.[66]

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Wales and Scotland coverage controversy

In August 2007 Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price highlighted what he perceived as a lack of a Welsh focus on BBC news broadcasts.[67] Price threatened to withhold future television licence fees in response to a lack of thorough news coverage of Wales, echoing a BBC Audience Council for Wales July report citing public frustration over how the Welsh Assembly is characterized in national media.[68] Plaid AM Bethan Jenkins agreed with Price and called for responsibility for broadcasting to be devolved to the Welsh Assembly, voicing similar calls from Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond.[69] Criticism of the BBC's news coverage for Wales and Scotland since devolution prompted debate of possibly providing evening news broadcasts with specific focus for both countries.[70]

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Historic

Criticism of the policy of impartiality and objectivity are made by observers such as John Pilger who contextualises the actual implementation of policy against the literal meaning, he states:[71]

“ The BBC began in 1922, just before the corporate press began in America. Its founder was Lord John Reith, who believed that impartiality and objectivity were the essence of professionalism. In the same year the British establishment was under siege. The unions had called a general strike and the Tories were terrified that a revolution was on the way. The new BBC came to their rescue. In high secrecy, Lord Reith wrote anti-union speeches for the Tory Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and broadcast them to the nation, while refusing to allow the labor leaders to put their side until the strike was over. So, a pattern was set. Impartiality was a principle certainly: a principle to be suspended whenever the establishment was under threat. And that principle has been upheld ever since. ”

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References

  1. ^ a b c Simon Walters: Yes, we are biased on religion and politics, admit BBC executives, Daily Mail, October 22, 2006
  2. ^ The Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly. Accessed 11 November 2006.
  3. ^ CNN: UK press mauls Hutton 'whitewash', January 29, 2004 (on the reaction of the British press to the final report)
  4. ^ Baker, Norman: The Strange Death of David Kelly, Methuen, London 2007.
  5. ^ Grade, Michael. "The digital challenge", The Guardian, 2004-09-21. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. 
  6. ^ Thompson, Mark. "BBC closes door on newsreaders in Muslim veils", The Daily Mail, 2006-10-29. Retrieved on 2007-10-15. 
  7. ^ Hastings, Chris. "BBC 'not crammed full of soft liberals' says deputy chief", The Sunday Telegraph, 2006-10-30. Retrieved on 2007-10-15. 
  8. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV is too white, Lenny Henry says
  9. ^ BBC - About the BBC - Policy on diversity and equal opportunities
  10. ^ Black staff at the BBC are mainly cleaners and guards, says Ross - Telegraph
  11. ^ From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel: Safeguarding Impartiality in the 21st Century, BBC Trust, June 2007. Retrieved on 22 June 2007.
  12. ^ "BBC 'must become more impartial'", BBC News, 18 June 2007
  13. ^ "BBC accused of institutional 'trendy left-wing bias'". Evening Standard (18 June 2007). Retrieved on 2006-06-18.
  14. ^ BBC Watch
  15. ^ Davis, Douglas. "Hatred in the air: the BBC, Israel and Antisemitism". in: Iganski, Paul & Kosmin, Barry. (eds) A New Anti-Semitism? Debating Judeophobia in 21st century Britain. Profile Books, 2003, p. 130.
  16. ^ Anglicans for Israel
  17. ^ Anti-Israel bias - anglicansforisrael.com
  18. ^ Impartiality Review: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict- BBC Governors]. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  19. ^ Philip Stephens: BBC is losing public service plot, FT Jun 20, 2006
  20. ^ The BBC's success story has a public service plot, Mark Thompson, Financial Times, Jun 21, 2006
  21. ^ Amihai Zippor (2007-05-27). Nobel Laureate Cancels London Speech Due to British anti-Israel Bias. Retrieved on [[2007-05-27]].
  22. ^ Terror victims are BBC licence-payers, too 20/08/2007
  23. ^ Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
  24. ^ Jerusalem Post article on BBC coverage of the Israel-Lebanon conflict
  25. ^ Totally Jewish response to Francesca Unsworth
  26. ^ BBC asks court to block Israel report by Michael Herman (Times Online) March 27, 2007
  27. ^ BBC fights to suppress internal report into allegations of bias against Israel by Andy McSmith (The Independent) 28 March 2007
  28. ^ Telegraph: BBC mounts court fight to keep 'critical' report secret, October 15, 2006
  29. ^ BBC pays £200,000 to 'cover up report on anti-Israel bias' by Paul Revoir (Daily Mail) 22 March 2007
  30. ^ 'Balen report: BBC successful in High Court challenge' BBC Press Office 27 March 2007
  31. ^ BBC World dropped for al-Jazeera English in Israel | Israel and the Middle East |Guardian Unlimited
  32. ^ BBC World Home Page. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
  33. ^ Walters, Simon. "We are biased, admit the stars of BBC News", Mail on Sunday, 2006-10-21. Retrieved on 2006-11-02. 
  34. ^ "Cut & paste: A public broadcaster acknowledges its left-wing bias", The Australian, 2006-11-01. Retrieved on 2006-11-02. 
  35. ^ "Yes, we are biased on religion and politics, admit BBC executives", This is London, 2006-10-22. Retrieved on 2006-11-02. 
  36. ^ 'Death to US': Anti-Americanism examined http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6547881.stm
  37. ^ "The Far Left, Angelina Jolie and FOX News", FNC, Tuesday, June 19, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. 
  38. ^ Iain Dale's Diary: How the BBC Does Labour's Dirty Work
  39. ^ You're kidding | The Sun |HomePage|News|Sun Says
  40. ^ BBC NEWS |The Editors
  41. ^ Utley, Tom. "The BNP is thoroughly nasty, so why did 750,000 people vote for it?", The Daily Telegraph, 2004-07-16. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. 
  42. ^ "Going undercover in the BNP", BBC, 2004-07-15. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. 
  43. ^ "BNP duo to face race hate retrial", BBC News, 2006-02-03. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. 
  44. ^ "BNP leader cleared of race hate", BBC News, 2006-11-10. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. 
  45. ^ "Free Speech Two update", British National Party, 2006-01-14. Retrieved on 2007-04-28. 
  46. ^ "BNP leader cleared of race hate", BBC News, 2006-11-10. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. 
  47. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4471494.stm Arafat report 'broke BBC rules', BBC 25 November 2005
  48. ^ BBC urged to axe Springer opera BBC News 5 January 2005 accessed 30 August, 2007
  49. ^ Protests as BBC screens Springer BBC News, 10 January, 2005, accessed 30 August, 2005
  50. ^ Security guards step in after Springer opera death threats, The Times, 10 January 2005, accessed 30 August, 2005
  51. ^ Group to act over Springer opera, BBC News, 10 January, 2005, accessed 30 August, 2007
  52. ^ Second action over Springer opera, BBC News, 20 January, 2005, accessed 30 August, 2007
  53. ^ BBC rejects Springer complaints, BBC News, 30 March, 2005, accessed 30 August, 2007
  54. ^ "Exposed: guess who has been polishing their Wikipedia entries?", The Times, 2007-08-15. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. 
  55. ^ "Wikipedia 'shows CIA page edits'", BBC News, 2007-08-15. Retrieved on 2007-08-16. 
  56. ^ a b (The BBC) Wikipedia edits. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
  57. ^ "BBC's flagrant hypocrisy over Wiki edits", The Telegraph, 2007-08-16. Retrieved on 2007-08-18. 
  58. ^ How green is my Auntie?, Jeremy Paxman, 2 February 2007
  59. ^ [1], BBC Drops Climate Change Special, Media Guardian, 5 September
  60. ^ [2], BBC Editors Blog 30 August 2007
  61. ^ [http:http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2163250,00.html How green is my Auntie?], Media Guardian, 6 September 2007
  62. ^ http://www.mediawatchuk.org/mhvh.htm
  63. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7073702.stmM/
  64. ^ Raymond Snoddy (2004-02-17). BBC 'anti-competitive'. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-01-23.
  65. ^ a b BBC radio ordered off Russian FM. BBC News (2007-8-17). Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
  66. ^ BBC dropped from Russia’s FM waveband today. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  67. ^ Plaid MP's BBC licence fee threat Monday, 20 August 2007
  68. ^ BBC audiences 'want modern Wales' Monday, 16 July 2007
  69. ^ Plaid MP's BBC licence fee threat Monday, 20 August 2007
  70. ^ Plaid MP's BBC licence fee threat Monday, 20 August 2007
  71. ^ The Invisible Government, John Pilger, Information Clearing House, Speech delivered at the Chicago Socialism 2007 Conference on Saturday June 16 2007

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See also




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