The cowardly BBC

Tonight at 9pm on 18DoughtyStreet.com you'll be able to watch a one hour long interview about bias at the BBC.  The interview is with Robin Aitken - 25 years a BBC journalist and author of the devastating Can We Trust The BBC? book.  Robin has written for 18DoughtyStreet.com today about the fact that the Corporation has not interviewed him once since his book was published:

"Now I take the view that public institutions have a duty to engage with their critics. And, funnily enough, the BBC agrees. On its website it makes much of its ‘accountability’.  So you might think that when serious criticism comes along it might want to  defend itself. But apparently not. It seems that a collective decision has been taken to ignore this upstart critic – exactly the same response as I encountered when I was working for the BBC and tried to raise these questions internally... The BBC is proud of its star interviewers; people like John Humphrys, Kirsty Wark,  Jeremy Paxman and Jim Naughtie. These are people who’ve made their names as fearless interrogators.  Funny that not one of them seems to want to cross swords with an obscure reporter who has had the temerity to point out that the Corporation’s claim to impartiality is a Big Lie."

The BBC insists that Robin Aitken isn't subject to an editorial boycott.  Apparently it is just a coincidence that the legions of freethinking journalists at the Corporation have all decided not to interview him.  Do the high-ups at the BBC think that we are all morons?

Comments

[Valedictoryan]

This reminds me that I never did receive a reply to my complaint about Newsnight bias

[UK Daily Pundit]

And what plans do the Tories have for the biased BBC? Will they sell it to the highest bidder? Will they scrap the BBC poll tax? No. A Tory government would retain the status quo. Spineless.

[Matt Wright]

Sadly there is a tendency to bias, although I know there are journalists there who are fair but I'm sure they fear being contrary to the prevailing culture. All too often the BBC found it hard not to be negative and sneering when they talked about Conservative ("Tories" as they would say) although there is no doubt it has improved since Cameron has lead the party. I don't think politicians can just moan about the media, we have to keep working hard and get the surrounding culture of the media to think afresh. There will be a new generation coming on board that way,

Matt

[George Hinton]

We know the BBC is biased and this only goes to confirm the fact. All the BeeB's fearless interviewers are lefties and make no bones about it.
The question we need to ask is....what to the Tories intend to do about this bias if elected, and how will they cope with the opposition spin of politicising the BBC and unnecessary interference in the product and output of the BeeB.

[Ken]

"Top-ranking interviewers don't interview obscure critic." Not really that big a shock, is it?

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

The sooner we privatise the Beeb, the better.

[malcolm]

In answer to question you ask at the end of your editorial,yes probably.

[Denis Cooper]

Privatisation wouldn't solve the problem; better to devise an effective mechanism to ensure that the BBC obeys its Charter, which requires it to be impartial.

[DrFoxNews]

"The BBC insists that Robin Aitken isn't subject to an editorial boycott. Apparently it is just a coincidence that the legions of freethinking journalists at the Corporation have all decided not to interview him. Do the high-ups at the BBC think that we are all morons?"

How dare the BBC have more important stories to cover than the ramblings of an embittered ex-hack?

This would never happen if we had a British equivalent of Fox News to discuss these momentous stories that the public care so passionately about!

[Derek Buxton]

What a list of "free thinking" interrogaters, neither free thinking or sharp interrogators. Wark, extreme Scots left winger involved with the Holyrood scam, Paxman, saves his sarcasm for students who are too polite to answer back. Not a sense of high, or even low intelligence among them. And we have to pay their large salaries on pain of imprisonment! If there were any justice, they would be the ones in jail.

[Bedd Gelert]

DrFoxNews - If you are stupid enough to want to swap the relatively impartial BBC for the shite that passes for news on Fox 'Fair and Balanced' [sic] News, then p!$$ off to the US of A and leave us with the BBC we love here.

The BBC ain't perfect, but it is a lot better than not having it - if you don't agree just watch another bloody channel. Imbecile.

[Patsy Sergeant]

'Bedd Gelert' - If you know that the BBC is biased then sure you can choose to watch another channel or switch off, but 'bias', as I think you are well aware of, is not directed at someone who can tell the difference between straight reporting and a biased report!

A large number of people in this country have got used to 'trusting the BBC' over the years, and therefore they have not developed the mechanism - which is not difficult to acquire - to make a judgement as to whether a particular reporter/interviewer has a political bias. In the Soviet Union this type of assessment became a fine art and even the 'man in the street' applied it as a matter of course, and of course researchers outside the SU.

Personally I think that Jeremy Paxman just likes being confrontational, but Wark is another matter entirely - its alright for me, but not for you lefties!

[DrFoxNews]

DrFoxNews - If you are stupid enough to want to swap the relatively impartial BBC for the shite that passes for news on Fox 'Fair and Balanced' [sic] News, then p!$$ off to the US of A and leave us with the BBC we love here.

The BBC ain't perfect, but it is a lot better than not having it - if you don't agree just watch another bloody channel. Imbecile. - Bedd Gelert

I was clearly being ironic. Imbecile.