Have we all the missed the point about the debate on the BNP appearance on Question Time?
The issue is not whether the BBC should have invited Mr Griffin. The issue is that the licence-fee payer had no right to make a decision either way. In fact the licence-fee payer was disenfranchised from this decision.
I have argued before on CentreRight that licence-fee payers must be given the chance to vote on major decisions made by the BBC (including programming quality, executive and celebrity pay and the level of the licence fee).
Each licence fee payer would be given a vote via a Pin number, in which they could register their voting intentions on various issues.
Recent major controversies that the BBC has been involved in (Jonathan Ross, the Gaza charity appeal and now the BNP), have been all the more controversial, because the decisions made have been decided by senior management alone.
The only involvement has been the so called 'court of public opinion', politicians and the media.
In the BNP's case, opinion seems to have veered between Unite against Fascism, media commentators and Mark Byford, with the genuine licence fee payer having no real say.
Such a state of affairs can no longer be allowed to continue. In an age of personal empowerment, the BBC can no longer act as a 1950s paternalistic institution, enforcing its decisions on its customers.
If we are to have to pay the licence fee, then it is right we should have a genuine chance to be involved in BBC decisions. It is we, the licence fee payer, who should have been consulted - and then decided whether Mr Griffin appeared and no one else.
PS In case your wondering, I was in favour of the BBC decision as I believe that it is better to fight evil with truth, rather than sweep it under the carpet. I also believe that Mr Griffin's shambolic performance would have thankfully have cost him thousands of votes.
