Should you be the unsympathetic, judgemental type, of which there seems to be many, and enjoy reading the current censorious attacks upon the BBC stop right here, nip down the road and buy the Daily Telegraph. You will find it more to your liking.
The latest BBC “crisis” became public with the divulging, sorry leaking, of a dossier by one Michael Prescott who is an advisor. This blew the whistle on the Panorama programme concerning the Capitol riots. It appears that Michael got his job with no little help from BBC board member Robbie Gibb, who himself was a Prime Minister Johnson appointment. This is the same Robbie Gibb who was Chief of Staff to Tory politician Francis Maude and was deputy chair of the Federation of Conservative students. This group was wrapped up by Norman Tebbit for being too right wing, I make no comment.
Who knew who on the Telegraph at that time is anybody’s guess but to gift this story to the paper with its reputation of covering “legitimate concerns of racists”, “machinations of the liberal elite against the people” and promotion of Zionism is, surely, a political attack on a British institution carried out with the full knowledge that damage was going to be done to the Corporation that has served this country, Europe and, indeed, the world so very well for a hundred years.
So, what do we have here, is it just diligent journalists holding dear old ‘auntie’ to account or is there something sinister going on here? Or are they just obedient fools selling their souls to the Trumps, Farages and Netanyahus? If so that raises other potential questions, disturbing things like honesty, morality and integrity. In their reporting of the Panorama programme, to me, it sounds like a distortion of reality. Yes two pieces of film, half hour apart, were spliced together but if you have taken the time to watch the entire Trump, “speech”, it is blatantly obvious what his mindset was and, at any rate, in the U.S House of Representatives Trump was accused of Incitement to Insurrection – votes in favour 232 against 197, when this was voted on in the Senate the result was 57 guilty, 43 not guilty. As a two thirds majority, 67, was required to convict he was acquitted. Jammy is the word that springs to mind.
A mistake
Yes the BBC has made a pretty awful mistake but, surely, P45s handed out and an apology to Trump should have ended it. However, no, Trump is in pursuit of more millions so I would like to think he would have to give evidence, in open court, on his own behalf. Perhaps then he could be questioned by a British barrister, how about that nice,”gentle,” man who led Paula Vennels (Post Office Inquiry) down that pleasant road to self-destruction. Unfortunately, I suppose that is a pipe dream.
The last time I looked the Corporation was staffed and run by human beings and we are all capable of getting things wrong, some of us quite a lot of the time. I still feel that the BBC retains an integrity that the Telegraph lost years ago. This newspaper gets things wrong and sticks its apologies and corrections deep in its inner pages.
How does the BBC react to near catastrophic blunders? It leads with its own wrong doings on its own news bulletins! The Beeb knows how to do news “right”. They are not Pravda and they are not the Daily Telegraph, they are independent news gatherers who get it right most of the time and, following errors there will be a host of BBC producers ready and willing to try and protect from further cockups.
Fleet Street is long gone and, perhaps, the demise of newspapers is imminent. Maybe sooner than later If this should be the case,
“You don’t know what you got till it’s gone”
Let’s imagine for a moment there is no BBC, we are stuck with the likes of GB News, Fox News beholden to advertisers, I am sure it will be a case of “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone”.
So let’s keep the BBC in its present format, one good reason for doing so is the cheapest subscription deal that I can find for the Telegraph is £1,248 per year. The BBC will give you the news they print and an opposing view, you know, for balance sake for £174-50. Oh, I almost forgot, you can chuck in drama, sports and a World Service which is the envy of the planet as well
Yes we must be mindful of BBC errors of judgement over recent times but the Corporation still stands head and shoulders above these ,”pragmatic” career conscious journalists employed by some newspapers. There is nothing new about this “career consciousness” either. Way back in history, a Roman governor reacting to a defendant who had said that he was born to testify to the truth replied, “What is truth.” Pontius Pilate may have been a cynic and he may have thought the truth was unknowable but as recently as a hundred years ago the BBC came into being to testify to the truth in World affairs. Mistakes along the way, of course, but they get it right most of the time, and if the Telegraph and their mates still wish to stick the knife in they can always grass the BBC to “Points of View” you can bet the house that Auntie will grant you airtime to air your views.
Deborah Turness as CEO at BBC News lasted a little over a year in her job, in that time she asked colleagues what they thought was unique about BBC News, she was worried about distrust and disinformation so they came up with a brief mission statement, ” Trust is earned.” So, is the BBC beyond reproach, no it is not nor would it want to be so for those of us who care about the Beeb now is the time to defend it, it cannot be allowed to die under attacks from those writers who, seemingly, delight in bringing people down and rubbishing institutions. We know what you are up to now with this undermining of those you consider, “not onside.” There was one very great writer who found the perfect words to inform us non Uni types what you are up to, he was the Romantic William Blake he wrote “A truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent.”
I feel we owe a great deal to the BBC, currently they work under an international microscope and should the “populist” media get their way changes are on the cards. Hopefully, therefore, the BBC will continue to follow its motto, ” Nation will speak peace unto Nation” it will remain independent of government and steer clear of economic/advertising influences, but, that, I expect, will be another story.
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