Director General, BBC
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
Dear Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE,
The BBC trust chairman, Lord Patten, said of you
upon your appointment,
'As
an ex-BBC man he understands how the Corporation’s culture and behaviour make
it, at its best, the greatest broadcaster in the world. And from his vantage
point outside the BBC, he understands the sometimes justified criticisms of the
corporation – that it can be inward looking and on occasions too institutional.'
As I am sure everybody would agree this is a
glowing recommendation, and exactly what an organisation like the BBC needs. According
to Lord Patten you are an individual who understands the ethos and aims of the
BBC, but who is at the same time critical of its apparent failings. Such a
recommendation however, is completely contradicted by recent events.
I am talking about the BBC’s arrogance in ignoring
the views of over fifty thousand people.
On Saturday the twenty first of June there was a protest by The People’s
Assembly against our current coalition’s austerity measures. Tens of thousands of people were present in
marching against our government’s stance on austerity. For all intents and
purposes, the day was a great success!
This was a hugely enjoyable and joyous event. Not
the angry protests of the riotous students that were heavily reported on in
2010. No, according to one individual present it was, “lovely to see so many
families taking part, with the young and old marching together, and many people
of different faiths and ethnicity joining in, helping to create a carnival
atmosphere.” This was a healthy protest and a fantastic example of the public
gathering in their devotion towards a single cause.
Then why is it then that this received zero
coverage from the BBC, a neutral, non-biased public service. Well the cynic
would argue that it is because it was too much of a triumph, and unlike the
student protests there was no negative spin to be placed upon such an
affair. Such doctoring of the country’s
news would be far too Goebbels-esque to be taking place within a forward
thinking and progressive nation like the UK though, surely?
I wish I could say yes, I want to, I really do! But
in recent years it appears to me that our nation’s primary impartial news
service is anything but impartial. Take the aforementioned student protests for
example. The story was spun in such a way as to focus on the riotous
contingent, a group who were for the most part, not even students. It veered
away from an objective discussion of the issues these students had taken to
heart, instead opting into a childish exercise in finger pointing.
This appears to be a running trend within our
country’s broadcasting of the news. Take the recent European Elections for
example. The whole lead up was filled with childish attacks against UKIP and
their party members. I am not one to support their party, no, anything but. I
do however believe that such a focus distracted from the important issues that
should have been brought into discussion. The BBC should have been a platform
for “all” the parties to voice their opinions. Take the Green party for
example. Their views were completely ignored throughout the lead up, why?
Because they were real, productive views, counter to those of the centre
parties and not merely those of an easily belittled, and mocked caricature of a
party. The BBC in recent years has reported on two things, the politics of the
centre political parties, and those it can ridicule and villainise on the
outside in an attempt to distract from the real issues.
Take the Saville scandal and ongoing witch hunt.
These stories give the public an enemy and excuse the news from having to
report on other subjects deemed less worthy, or should I say; politically
convenient.
One individual at the recent protest stated how, “This
is not rent a mob. This is people across the social spectrum working in the
public sector, private individuals who care about the services that the state
provides, and standing up for all of us so that we might still have a decent
education, a welfare state when we need it, and support when we are sick or
elderly.” As they have said, this is about people across the social spectrum, the
sort of views that an organisation trying to move away from its “inward
looking” and “institutional” roots would be happy to share.
This is why I feel that you have failed to provide
on the promise made by Lord Patten. I understand your job covers a broad
spectrum of the BBC, but you are its face, and its beating heart. It is for
this reason that it is up to you to take action against such blatant
inadequacies within “our” organisation.
Because in all truth that is what the BBC is. It is
ours. It belongs to the people of the UK. It is not yours, and it most
certainly is not owned by the centre political parties of whom it appears to be
benefitting most.
The French philosopher Michel Foucault once stated
that, “I'm no prophet. My job is making windows where there were once walls.”
I feel it is
time the BBC did the same. It is time it became a window to the thoughts of the
people; for too long it has been a wall trapping us within the enclosed space
of centre political thought.
Yours sincerely,
The Pessimist
Chronicles, ©2014.
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