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For the last week or so, the Telegraph has been reporting on allegations of deep-seated bias in the British Broadcasting Corporation. The most damning allegation is that producers of the Panorama documentary series edited clips of President Trump’s speech on January 6th, 2021, to make it appear that he said in one breath:
“We are going to march to the Capitol and we are going to fight like hell.”
The charge is that the BBC deliberately left out all the “peaceful and patriotically” stuff that might have made the speech seem less inflammatory. This presumably would have deviated from the journalist’s preferred narrative. There is talk that legal proceedings might be taken by the president.
This has been followed by further revelations (confirmations, in reality) about bias in coverage of the Gaza War and transgender issues.
So amid mounting pressure, the Director-General and the head of news have just announced their resignations, even as current and former BBC journalists circle the wagons and fume about “hatchet jobs.”
Of course, the main takeaway is not that there is bias in the media — perhaps most notably, but not only, on the above issues. But it's no small thing to see a media organ actually display accountability for that bias. This would absolutely never happen here in Ireland, where our publicly-funded broadcaster wears its outrageous bias as a badge of pride.
Discussion (24)
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When we were last in Ireland, I learned that Ireland has a television tax like the BBC has in the UK. We were packing up to leave our AirBnB when a television inspector came around. He didn't give me a hard time, as he could tell I wasn't the owner, but he asked me to leave a form-note about it on the table. Our daughter who lives in Ireland said she had never heard of an inspector coming around to enforce it. I read somewhere that the UK may be giving up its version of the tax.
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It’s called the Television Licence. It costs €160 per year and funds the national broadcaster, RTÉ. Unlike the BBC, RTÉ can also raise money through advertising, competing with privately-owned media, which it completely dominates. Like the BBC, it is obliged by law to be unbiased in its reporting. Like the BBC, it breaches its obligations every minute of every day, whether it be on Israel, US politics, climate, immigration, or a host of others, where there is only one acceptable position ( Left). Unlike the UK, there are no powerful alternative voices here who will call them out.
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In eight visits to Ireland (or eleven, depending on how you count them) I don't remember watching any television. I certainly never turned on a television set. It has never been on in a hotel room or AirBnB where we've stayed.
No, I partly take that back. I have watched some big sports matches in a pub and once in somebody's living room. But there was very little if any advertising, so it wasn't at all annoying.
I have listened to some broadcasts on our daughter's car radio, but none this year. The most memorable was just before the 2016 election when somebody from the Clinton campaign was trying to make a big deal out of Trump's "Grab 'em by the ..." remark. The interviewer gently pointed out that the Clinton campaign was hardly in a position to make anything out of that issue. When the Clinton operative went on in the same vein as before, the interviewer repeated what he had said. It was like water off a duck's back, but I was amused.
I have, however, looked at the Irish Times now and then when it was lying around. I have read some very well written Letters to the Editor, but it's been a while. I can't say that I'm very much interested in the same topics that tend to interest the Times, especially the Sunday edition.
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It’s a little more complicated, and the complications make it more evident why the resignations reached as high they did.
The programme in question wasn’t a BBC production. It was produced by October Films Ltd., a joint UK-US company. Imagine 60 Minutes outscourcing its production.
Supposedly, the BBC Standards department told network management that the program had problems and they chose to air it anyway. Not only has the Director General resigned so has the president of BBC News, Deborah Turness. If that name sounds familiar it’s because she was president of NBC News from 2013-17.
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I recommend subscribing to the Telegraph. It’s great value for overseas subscribers (myself included), and it consistently holds the feet of the Beeb and its ilk to the fire. It has a very definite editorial line, but then, it isn’t financed by a form of taxation.
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