Brits won’t want to pay licence fee to not-fit-for-purpose BBC as Rachel Reeves rinses us | UK | News
While it’s clear that Rachel Reeves is after hard-working middle-income earners, now is the time for us to be more careful than ever about how we spend our money. At least about the TV license fee. As a friend said to me just yesterday: “Do I really want to pay £175 for something I barely use?” It has a meaning. The box-set drama, produced by Netflix, provides plenty of entertainment (And if you fancy watching an old episode of Morecambe and Wise, YouTube normally delivers.) But most importantly, it offers unique, unbiased news coverage that sadly, infuriatingly, the BBC no longer can.
The latest example of appalling bias at our state broadcaster is when its so-called flagship investigative programme, Panorama, was accused of rigging a speech. Donald Trump Thanks to a fierce investigation by The Telegraph (hooray for the integrity of print journalism) to show that the President encouraged the Capitol Hill riot (he had actually called for a peaceful march), we now know that the BBC was capable of tactical adjustment to pursue its own agenda.
The problem is that Trump is capable of falling on his own sword. As Napoleon famously said, never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake. Given the president’s garrulous tendencies, that time may come (though for all his faults, I hope not; he is, in his way, the only person on the planet who can show dogged leadership).
So was this just a busy editor’s switch in a tight window of time? Given the fearless scrutiny of Panorama’s brand, this doesn’t quite seem right.
Instead, it plays into a broader reality. The BBC continues to rot from within and fails to meet its obligation to provide what it calls “the highest degree of impartiality” [in] all forms of news and journalism, giving due weight to events, views and main arguments.”
Look no further than his brutal bias in covering the Gaza war. Award-winning reporters like Jeremy Bowen mistakenly blame Israel for an attack on a hospital on the strip (which was actually a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) and then refuse to apologize.
Negative news about Israel is being “rapidly released without adequate checks” as part of staff’s desire to “always believe the worst” about the country’s actions, a former BBC external adviser reported this week.
Meanwhile, Ofcom ruled last month that the BBC had “serious breaches” of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official.
It’s no surprise that last year more than 200 people from the TV and film industry signed a letter to the BBC board calling for an urgent investigation into what they described as “systemic problems of antisemitism and bias” at the corporation.
Even if you’re not interested in Middle East politics, remember that such distorted reporting provides ammunition to anti-Semites who are more than willing to project their hatred on UK soil.
The heartbreaking attack at the Manchester synagogue where I was married and whose family I have been associated with for decades shows how real the danger is. Is this the country we want to live in?
There is no pleasure in writing this. I grew up on the BBC. As well as its unique drama and Top of the Pops being the highlight of the week, it was the go-to place in times of national significance. He was the most important voice of the country.
What makes this even more frustrating is that the organization is constantly aware of complaints. Still, they fend off probing errors either with defensiveness or with promises of learning. As a result, the trickle of controversy signals that Auntie does not deserve the audience’s trust.
So what is needed? Is there a leadership change at the top? Better education? Switch to subscription model? Maybe all of these and more.
But there’s only so long the BBC can continue to succumb to so-called flashpoints
It needs to be both impartial and relevant. Unfortunately it fails at both – that’s £175 too much to spend.
