BBC accused of bias against the countryside

THE BBC is “institutionally biased against the countryside” and is so out of touch “it thinks The Archers is real”, the head of a game conservation charity has claimed.

Ian Coghill, the chairman of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), said that the corporation was “as far away from the real countryside as it can get”.

He said that those who love country sports, such as shooting and fishing, were becoming “increasingly disenchanted” with being treated as a “whipping boy” by some elements of the corporation.

Mr Coghill also questioned the BBC’s decision not to uphold a complaint about the presenter Chris Packham who called those involved in hunting and shooting “the nasty brigade” in a column in BBC Wildlife magazine last year. Some claimed that Mr Packham breached impartiality rules, but the BBC Trust’s standards committee did not uphold the complaints. In a blog for the GWCT website, Mr Coghill criticised the decision, and said Mr Packham made “gratuitously abusive” comments about “perfectly decent country people”.

A BBC spokesman said: “Across television, radio and online we cover a wide range of rural issues from many different perspectives in depth and impartially.

“We are delighted so many listeners enjoy The Archers and are sure people appreciate it is a drama rather than a documentary.”