BBC, WT…?

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear

Oh dear. What on earth has been going wrong at the BBC? There has clearly been, for some years, a lack of management oversight, and of management cojones to deal with issues. Or, maybe the conspiracy theorists are right, and there are secret forces at work in the heart of BBC management to push their own agenda.

Tim Davie, the Director General and Deborah Turness, the head of news, have resigned on the back of revelations, excavated by a Daily Telegraph investigation, that a speech of President Trump’s was edited to make it look as though he had incited the Capitol rioters.  And now he’s threatening to sue the institution for a billion dollars. Of course he is. If you’re going to mess about with mis-quoting people/stitching them up (depending on your take on the situation) then for heaven’s sake make sure it’s not the most litigation-leaning man on the planet.

It’s been a while since my General Principles of English Law O Level, but I think that a libel action over here may be out of time, since it’s been over a year since broadcast, and the episode was not, the BBC says, available in Florida, nor on iPlayer overseas. In any case, I’m not sure how much it really did damage Trump’s reputation, he’s more than capable of doing that for himself. I do, though, suspect that an apology, a retraction and some form of monetary recompense will end up being paid. I’m reminded of that scene from the film Pretty Woman, the one with all the shopping bags: Big mistake, Huge.

As Director General, the buck ultimately halts at Davie, though with a brief stop-off via Turness as head of news. They’re calling the Panorama edit an ‘error of judgement’. Yeah. No sh*t Sherlock. Others are terming it a deliberate attempt to push an anti-Trump, left-wing agenda. And there doesn’t seem to have been anything said about what happened to the person who decided to edit the footage in that way, nor the one who signed it off for broadcast.

There have been a lot of management misjudgements at the BBC over the years, which I don;t have the time or headspace to deal with here. There’s definitely been a tendency to sweep things under the carpet. Are there also people who are pushing their own private agenda across the corporation? Undoubtedly. Has the management oversight been ineffective or downright lacking on some areas over the years? Again, undoubtedly.

However, pretty much everyone who has an issue with the BBC’s coverage sees it from their own perspective. If you asked 100 people, across the whole political spectrum, which way they thought the BBC’s bias was aimed, you would get both too right-wing and too-left wing mentioned.

Maybe that means it is doing something right, if those at both ends of the political spectrum have issues with its coverage. Spare a thought for the poor old Lib Dems, who complain that too much attention is given – in the interests of editorial balance and impartiality – to the ends of the spectrum, with n’eer a thought for those in the centre.

In the end, let’s not lose sight of the fact that the BBC has also brought us a great many wonderful things. The GOAT that is Sir David Attenborough, for starters. The CBeebies channel, which has saved the sanity of many a parent of young ‘uns, mine included, and the phenomenal amount of resource that was poured into the BBC Bitesize website at the beginning of the first lockdown, which was true public service.

As a case in point, this may be the organisation that persists in commissioning Mrs Brown’s Boys, yet it was also responsible for bringing to our screens one of the most poignant anti-war messages ever.

As I write this on the 11th day of the 11th month, and approaching the 11th hour, let’s not forget that the BBC also commissioned this series. A comedy programme that, with its final scene, summed up everything that is futile, terrible and destructive about war. I defy anyone to watch this and not shed a tear.

 

 

Lest We Forget