Cal Thomas: The biased broadcasting corporation
In a recent email exchange from London, two friends discussed the fallout from a significant editing scandal at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which resulted in the resignation of two high-ranking officials. The controversy arose from an edited segment of a speech by former President Donald Trump delivered on January 6, 2021, which appeared to incite violence against the Capitol. One correspondent expressed frustration, suggesting that the first “B” in BBC should stand for “bias,” drawing a parallel to the term “Clinton News Network” used by some conservatives to describe CNN during the Clinton administration. The second friend dismissed the edits as a mere “mistake,” but the consensus is that they were a deliberate attempt to shape public perception of Trump negatively, akin to past instances of media manipulation.
The discussion highlights the declining trust in the BBC, which was once a revered source of information during World War II but has faced scrutiny for perceived biases in its reporting. A survey by David Pickering revealed that trust in the BBC is heavily influenced by political identity, with stark contrasts between the perceptions of left-leaning and right-leaning individuals. This incident is not isolated; the BBC has faced criticism for its coverage of various issues, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and climate change, with allegations of a pro-Palestinian bias and suppression of dissenting viewpoints. Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal pointed out that the BBC maintains an LGBTQ desk to ensure favorable reporting on transgender topics, further fueling accusations of bias.
Compounding the issue is the BBC’s funding model, which requires viewers to pay an annual TV license fee, raising questions about accountability and the value of the service provided. Despite calls from conservative members of Parliament to abolish the license fee, political inertia persists, similar to the reluctance seen in the U.S. regarding media reform. The now-resigned director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, stated, “This narrative will not just be given by our enemies. It’s our narrative. We own things,” reflecting a troubling attitude that prioritizes institutional narrative over impartial journalism. To restore credibility, it is suggested that the BBC, like CBS News under its new president, should consider hiring reporters with diverse ideological perspectives to ensure fair and balanced reporting. This scandal serves as a reminder of the critical importance of journalistic integrity in a media landscape increasingly characterized by partisan divides.
Two friends email from London about the
editing scandal
that led to the resignation of two top officials from the British Broadcasting Corporation. The resignations followed exposure of the splicing together of two parts of a speech by President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.The edits made it look and sound like the president was urging his followers to violently attack the Capitol.
One emailer said the first “B” in BBC should stand for bias. That reminded me of what some conservatives called CNN during the Clinton administration (the Clinton News Network), because of their perceived bias.
The second writer said the edit was only a “mistake.” It wasn’t a mistake. It was deliberate and it was made with the intention of having viewers accept their desired negative opinion of Trump. In another country and in another era, this would be called propaganda. If this sounds like the editing of the CBS “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris to make her sound articulate, it should. Both flowed from the same liberal worldview.
Kudos to the
London Daily Telegraph
for practicing real journalism and exposing the edit of the Trump speech.
During World War II the BBC was a trusted source of information. It sent coded information to the French resistance and took other actions in support of the war effort. This was accurately depicted in the film “The Longest Day.” In recent years, the BBC has seen its level of trust decline.
A survey conducted by David Pickering of
The Conversation
, a news organization that calls itself “dedicated to facts and evidence,” noted that “Trust in the BBC is heavily conditioned by political identity.” The survey of 11,170 people in the UK “showed striking differences between how people with left-wing and right-wing party affiliations felt about the broadcaster.”
The editing incident isn’t the first time the credibility of the BBC has been called into question. Several internal studies have found the organization to have reported unfairly on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The studies changed nothing as the pro-Palestinian bias has continued. It is the same when it comes to their reporting on “climate change.”
A
Wall Street Journal
editorial notes the BBC has had an LGBTQ desk within its London headquarters to make sure stories were favorable about transgender issues. Stories that did not reflect the BBC’s “liberal orthodoxy” were suppressed, notes the Journal.
On top of this, streamers and owners of television sets are required to pay an annual
TV license fee
of £174.50 (about $230) per year for a color license and £58.50 ($77) for a black-and-white license, a compulsory payment used primarily to fund the BBC’s television, radio and online services.
Does anyone still own a black-and-white TV? And on top of this, viewers must watch endless commercials, some of which are more entertaining and creative than the programs.
Efforts by some conservative members of Parliament to eliminate the TV license fee have failed. As in America, politicians are reluctant to give up money.
Tim Davie
, the now-resigned director general of the BBC said in a statement: “This narrative will not just be given by our enemies. It’s our narrative. We own things.”
Right there you have the reason so much of the media in the UK and the U.S. are held in low regard. They think they “own things,” instead of exercising a responsibility to serve the people fairly and accurately. As with other exposures of bias, I suspect little will change within the BBC unless it follows the example of the new president of
CBS News
and begins hiring reporters with a conservative worldview who will presumably report conservative ideas fairly and accurately.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at
tcaeditors@tribpub.com
. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
