Tackling BBC bias will be a mammoth task
The drive to end Left-wing groupthink should extend beyond social media, to drama and comedy shows
If anyone has doubts about Tim Davie’s determination to tackle bias and restore trust in the BBC, that should be put to bed today. The BBC’S new director general will back the findings of a report into the use of social media by staff that calls for sweeping change throughout the corporation.
New guidelines, arising from the report by former BBC executive Richard Sambrook, will introduce tough new impartiality rules for all staff. At the same time, Mr Davie will announce plans for a public register of outside earnings for presenters and journalists and a rigorous clearance process to ensure BBC staff are not creating conflicts of interest as they cash in on their profile.
The move is a big step in the right direction for Mr Davie, who took over the helm just last month. He has declared that restoring the BBC’S reputation for impartiality will be his top priority and in this he faces a mammoth task. We all pay our licence fee, but all too often BBC output reflects the views of just one section of society – the urban, metropolitan middle classes that make up the bulk of the BBC workforce. Over the past decade, “groupthink” at the BBC has distorted its output, eroding its reputation for impartiality and damaging public trust.
Real reform is dependent on the delivery of Mr Sambrook’s recommendations and whether enough can be done not just to stamp out clear examples of online bias but also the grey areas. Sometimes it isn’t obvious when BBC staff are displaying their own political preferences, with opinionated tweets dressed up as objective analysis. Funny how this “analysis” all points in the same direction. Sometimes even the journalists themselves are unaware of their bias, but it is still damaging to the reputation of the BBC.
The BBC will now need to decide who will rule on whether a piece of social media breaches the new guidelines and what level of sanction offending staff will face. These must be clear and consistently applied, not just in the weeks after the new guidelines are published but long after the spotlight on social media use fades.
I have faith that Mr Davie will make this work. His decisive early intervention over the farcical banning of singing Prom favourites and his clear understanding of why impartiality must be the number one priority for the BBC have won him praise from ministers and BBC staff alike. It is critical that his clear leadership is bolstered by the appointment of a BBC chairman who shares his reforming zeal. Working with the chairman and the BBC Board, Mr Davie will be able to draw up plans to monitor, encourage and enforce impartiality across the corporation.
And this drive to restore what has been lost should not stop with social media or news and current affairs but should extend to the entire BBC output. For gains made in some areas risk being undermined if entertainment programmes are not subject to at least some level of editorial scrutiny. All too often, the narrow political groupthink spills on to our screens in drama plots and comedy programmes.
It seems having a non-left-wing comedian has become a new form of tokenism. Since the rise of alternative comedy in the Eighties, the BBC has never moved culturally away from the dominance of Left-wing Tory-bashing comics. Only “anti-woke” Geoff Norcott seems to have broken through this barrier. Norcott is a funny man, but so are Andrew Doyle, Leo Kearse and Dominic Frisby. You would be forgiven for never having heard of them unless you are a comedy circuit regular.
And how on earth did the jawdroppingly biased Roadkill drama get commissioned? With its grotesque caricature of a Tory minister and ludicrous plot line about secret plans to privatise the NHS, surely this is the most inane, inaccurate and biased prime-time drama to air on British TV.
The new social media guidelines may be the start of BBC reform, but I doubt it will end there, and nor should it. The BBC can only justify itself as a publicly funded broadcaster if it provides something its rivals do not – impartial news and entertainment that reflects the rich diversity of opinions and experiences across our country.
The BBC has drifted too far from its core values and the people it serves. Mr Davie will today begin the long process of getting the BBC back on course.