Originally set up in 1927, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was meant to remain politically impartial; free from being swayed by any government that happened to be in power. Unfortunately this seems to no longer be the case, as since the Brexit vote, the BBC political bias to the liberal, remain elite has become bare for all to see.
And this BBC political bias has only being made even more obvious to the general public with the way in which it handled both subsequent UK general elections, as well as how they treat conservative speakers and Brexiteers, to left wing speakers and hardcore remoaners! Yet as an institution that is meant to remain politically impartial; reporting the facts as they are without opinion, where did it start going off the rails?
How Did The BBC Political Bias Start
It is hard to say when the BBC Political Bias really started, as the BBC is a culture and like any culture, it would have slowly started to become more impartial as some members left and new ones joined. Yet the first complaints about political bias started in the days of the Maggie Thatcher government.
Back then, members of Thatcher's government made various complaints on how the BBC were not accurately stating the facts as they were. In fact, leading front bencher Norman Tebbit nicknamed the BBC the 'stateless person's broadcasting corporation…'
The reason Tebbit was saying this was because of the way the BBC covered the Falklands war. Essentially he thought that there was a BBC Political Bias due to the neutral coverage of the war, rather than the BBC being patriotic to the UK.
With regards to his complaints back then, I would have to side with the BBC for it is meant to be impartial. As such it was right to be neutral with regards to the conflict; though having said that I am just as patriotic as the next.
Other issues that existed between the Conservative government and the BBC were viewed when they started producing programs like the Panorama episode: 'Maggie's Militant Tendency,' 'The Real Lives' interview with Martin McGuiness.
Programs like these two (and others mentioned) led to the director general of the BBC, Alistair Milne, to resign. With regards to his resignation, Thatcher stated:
'I have fought three elections against the BBC and don't want to fight another against it.'
Further evidence to the BBC Political Bias can be seen when Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC in 2010 stated:
"In the BBC I joined 30 years ago [as a production trainee, in 1979], there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left. The organisation did struggle then with impartiality."
Over the last decade or so, people have started to notice how the BBC has become even more political in the process. Even though BBC liberal Andrew Marr tried to justify the political bias by referring to it as a cultural rather than a political thing, it has become more obvious to the average working man that the BBC doesn't really represent them, but rather a rich metropolitan elite.
Even though the BBC didn't represent them, it was only after the decisive Brexit referendum when the UK decided to leave the EU, did the BBC turn against the average working man.
Numerous shows held over the subsequent few years came out, where the emphasis was on how Brexit was a mistake and if another referendum was done, the public would vote for remain. Fortunately two subsequent general elections proved them wrong: but this didn't stop the average man from trying again.
Despite the BBC backing the wrong side for at least the last three times (Brexit referendum and two general elections), this hasn't stopped the BBC Political Bias from spilling out on their political programs.
For example, have you noticed how during political debates on the BBC, the severe number of audience members who all clap and cheer when a member of a left wing or liberal party makes a speech. Yet when a member of a Conservative party makes a speech, they will often get heckled and hissed at.
Surprisingly the BBC presenter will often say how the audience is actually a cross section of society. Yet it is obvious to most people that this isn't so: for if it were, then the Conservative Party would never win another election due to Labour winning every election with a triple digit landslide.
This to me is evidence of the political bias that exists in the BBC. Fortunately though change it looks like might finally be coming.
The Push Back
I believe that for the last few decades, the BBC has been getting more and more Woke: basically pleasing the liberal cosmopolitan elite and not the working man who makes up the vast majority of the country.
Despite being a taxpayer funded service (earning from the TV licensing fee which anybody who wants to watch terrestrial television has to pay) the quality of programming has really gone down hill. Yet despite the poor quality in programs produced, late last year the BBC said how they would have to scrap the free TV licensing which was granted to everyone over the age of 75) due to a lack of funds! From the amount of money they get each year (£3.83 billion for year 2017), I can only summarise that greed and hefty salaries absorbed all the money, and so they decided to go after the old aged pensioners in society by revoking their free TV licenses.
This decision which the BBC had probably hoped would pass without much attention instead blew up in their face. The media backlash was tremendous: and even caused many people (and the government) to question why the BBC is getting a licencing fee in the first place. Especially as there is a wide array of online subscription based services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc which allow you to watch films on the spot, and for far cheaper price.
In my opinion, what is hilarious is seeing the look of horror on their faces when BBC directors are told that instead of remaining as the nationalised institution that it currently is; living off tax payers money, the BBC should be privatised. Rather than getting paid just to be, let the BBC compete for viewership amongst the existing subscription services like Netflix, etc.
Boris Johnson and his government are looking into whether the TV licensing fee (which the BBC pretty much relies on for its existence) is actually worth keeping around. Some could say that this is in retaliation to the way that the BBC treated the Conservatives during the last General Election.
Whilst I can't say what the future of the BBC is, what I can say is that for too long the BBC has become the complacent Goliath of British television. As such it has bitten off more than they can chew and now it is in a situation where it's very future can be at stake.
What will happen though, only time will tell...
PS — if you want to learn more about the BBC Political Bias, then I would recommend you read ‘The BBC: Myth Of A Public Service’ by Tom Mills. In this book, Mills reveals how the BBC reveals how the news that the establishment wants you to hear; not what really is happening in the world.
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