Vital that BBC stays committed to language and the facts

From: Michael McGowan, Former Labour MEP, Chapel Allerton, Leeds.

THE words of Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight that Dominic Cummings had ‘broken the rules’ were correct, as the ‘staying at home’ instruction was clear and also applied to everyone.

The response of the BBC that what Emily Maitlis said “did not meet our standards of due impartiality” – and that the “BBC must uphold the highest standards of due impartiality in its news output” – is pathetic.

As a former BBC employee who worked in radio and television and was based in Leeds, Bristol and London, at both Television Centre and Broadcasting House, I regret the BBC over the years appears to have forgotten the meaning of language and impartiality.

It is vital that the BBC stands firm on its commitment to correct language, facts, and impartially. It is lazy journalism to promote two opposing opinions, both of which are a denial of the facts. And then to offer the classic BBC cop out pleading impartially through balance is just not good enough.

The Tories have well-known form on hostility to the BBC, with threats to the BBC’s independence as a public service broadcaster.

That two opposing opinions may help to ‘entertain’ and increase the heat of a broadcast is not impartiality but a denial of the meaning of language which fails to ‘inform and educate’.

Perhaps there is now a NorthSouth divide in the interpretation of language by the BBC. Emily Maitlis was brought up in

Yorkshire and state educated in Sheffield whilst both Newsnight and much of the BBC’s elite have attended private schools.

From: Mark Mercer, Golcar, Huddersfield.

I BELIEVE Jayne Dowle (The Yorkshire Post, June 1) when she tells us how hard journalists work to ferret out the truth. She did not, however, mention ‘spin’.

My wife and I remark on it time and time again. Laura Kuenssberg is one of the worst. She cannot resist a sly aside reminding us of the value of someone’s house or size of their garden just to ensure we know they are not ‘one of us’, whilst honestly reporting what was said or done.

Whatever the truth about Dominic Cummings, there has been a cruel feeding frenzy over several days which has shown the lynch mob capability of human nature and journalists in particular. To me it has been reminiscent of Cecil Parkinson’s demise. A good man, deliberately misunderstood and heartlessly put down by harsh, unfeeling, bandwagon journalism.