Apparently, we as a nation are in serious danger of losing a great prize of priceless value. This is what people all over the world envy. And this, we are told, is endangered by the legislator who mysteriously chose not to uphold the doctrine that has, from time immemorial, protected us from the great evil.
Got more? Have you grasped the nature of the threat? Well done, if you guessed it, we are in danger of losing “… a media we can trust” because the sacred doctrine of “impartiality” is under threat. It's terrible, isn't it, the thought that this great boon given to us by the BBC is under threat? You can borrow my smelling salt; I knew you would be shocked.
The person who emphasized this disturbing threat is certainly in the know; one of the high priests of “impartiality”, demonstrating daily what impartial journalism looks like. A step forward Nick Robinson, former BBC political editor and now co-host of the most important current affairs show, Today. Late last week, Mr Robinson spoke about his fears in an interview with the UK Press Gazette, a trade paper, and he thinks we should all be very scared.
Asked by the newspaper to comment on the rise of upstarts GB News and TalkTV, Robinson replied that “competition is good,” but added that something important had changed. He believes that OFCOM, the media regulator, has secretly introduced an entirely new doctrine that is changing the UK media landscape. According to him, the UK “… moved very quickly, without much public discussion, I think, from a broadcast model of impartiality to a very different, much broader definition of what impartiality really is.” And this, in his opinion, has put us on a slippery slope, at the bottom of which lies America and the drooling media beast Fox News. And we all know that every sane person must abhor such a prospect, don't they?
According to Robinson, the British broadcasting model is one of the jewels in the crown of our culture. Obviously, when Nick travels the world, people often say to him: “You have what we would like to have – you have fearless interviewers who can ask hard questions to any world leaders and their own leaders, you have this based on the concept of impartiality.
Lee Anderson (left) talking to Jacob Rees-Mogg during Rees-Mogg's GB News Jacob Rees – The State of the Nation Mogga. Author: PA
He believes that we (viewers) can trust them (broadcasters) because they don't ask questions dictated by agendas of powerful interest groups, but because they “…think that sometimes those are questions that the public would like to ask” . hear and see the answer.” He then added: “This is an incredibly powerful prize: you create it for decades and throw it away like that. That's why I'm afraid.”
As I read this, the press conference at the recent G7 meeting in Tokyo came to mind, where our fearless and impartial investigators had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate why the world is so envious of us. When Rishi Sunak took the podium, what difficult questions did he face? Of course, they were all about Suella Braverman's course on increasing speed. This fabricated scandal, apparently designed to get rid of the BBC's disapproval of the home secretary, took precedence over all other matters. All those air miles and our media are trapped in their painfully trivial Westminster bubble. No wonder we are envied.
Despite my belief that Robinson's comments betray a delusional insider's view of the institution he serves, he does highlight a real change in our media landscape: OFCOM's decision to license and allow a style of broadcast that represents a break with the past. Rupert Murdoch's TalkTV and its more successful competitor GB News do offer something new. But unlike Nick Robinson, I think this should be a cause for rejoicing, not fear-mongering about the dangers of people exposing people to overconfident programming.
Because Robinson's complaint betrays the deep anxiety that haunts our media establishment, of which the BBC is the cornerstone and backbone. It's perhaps no coincidence that Nick is working for a program that is losing audiences at an alarming rate; In the last year alone, 800,000 listeners left Segodnya.
I am one of them. Today – for which I once worked as a reporter – was required to listen not so long ago. But for many it has now lost its seal. I can't speak for the other 799,999 listeners, but I know I'm put off by the “tone” of the program. It's grouchy, nagging, sometimes cutesy, often biased, devotes too much time to politically correct coverage of the arts, its sports bulletins are chock-full of minority pursuits. Who needs it? There are better ways to get news.
The big problem for the BBC and other traditional broadcasters is that public confidence in what they offer is rapidly eroding. A poll conducted for the BBC's own annual reports in recent years shows a steady decline in those who find it credible; almost half of respondents believe that the BBC “does not share views like mine.” This is the backdrop for changes in our media landscape, and the question arises: why is this so?
I believe this is because people have become much more savvy about the media; we no longer swallow the Corporation's “impartiality” nonsense because it contradicts what we see and hear. The Brexit debate has highlighted the issue; The BBC was so sincerely committed to Stay and so determined to do everything in its power to discredit Leave that even the sleepiest listener began to notice.
The rest of the media – especially the Telegraph – began to pay close attention to the BBC's hidden biases. Last week, for example, Gordon Rayner exposed a shady government arm called the Counter Disinformation Policy Forum, set up during the pandemic. This body was created to promote the government's Covid policy; Representatives from the BBC attended his meetings, and the corporation faithfully weeded out some critics of the blocking policy.
Rayner spoke to BBC journalists who found themselves unable to fulfill what they thought was their primary mission – to promote free and fair debate – and they spoke anonymously for fear of retribution. This showed that the BBC had colluded with the government to quell dissent; The Corporation asks us to trust her when she so convincingly demonstrates that she does not trust us. We should not be subjected to anxious looks for fear of being misled by false prophets: I would love to know what Nick Robinson thinks about this.
And this is where these new players – GB News, TalkTV and others – noticed a gap in the market, apparently with the blessing of OFCOM. Robinson notes and regrets that GB News allows politicians like Jacob Rees-Mogg to run the programs. What is the price of impartiality with him in the chair?
But the fact of the matter is that GB News and JRM do not pretend to be impartial. They say these are views you won't hear on the BBC, presented by people who don't hide their own beliefs. If you don't like them, don't listen – and we won't charge you for the privilege. This is proving to be a popular proposition: according to industry statistics, GB News is the fastest growing radio channel in the country.
Hunter S. Thompson in 2003. Photo: Getty
It seems that the whole notion of “impartiality” in journalism has finally been exposed as a ridiculous fabrication. I came to this conclusion after 25 years as a staff reporter for the BBC, but other much more noteworthy journalists came to this long before me. For example, Hunter S. Thompson, legendary brawler and author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, wrote in 1972 after covering the US presidential election: “That's objective journalism for you. Don't bother looking for it here – not under my signature, or under anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of sports scores, race scores and stock tables, there is no such thing as objective journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.”
The godfather of gonzo journalism gets it right. Journalists—all journalists—have their own views, and no matter how hard they try to be impartial, objective, or impartial, those views inevitably color what they write. Of course, BBC journalists like Robinson genuinely try to be impartial, but they are doomed to failure because bias always seeps out.
Life can be seen as a melancholy process of disillusionment, and right. both for nations and individuals. Once upon a time, we Brits believed we had the best police officers in the world, the best healthcare, the best civil service; I'm not sure how many of us still believe in these things – now everyone is talking about reforms.
Many of us also thought that the BBC was the best broadcaster in the world; It's time for us to grow up about this. We need to see the BBC for what it is: a highly professional organization that puts on some great shows, but is committed to a progressive agenda and blind to its own biases. Until the BBC itself recognizes this obvious truth, reform will be impossible.
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