The Future of the BBC
The paradox of moving staff and mocking flags
The BBC announced this week that for the first time a ‘clear majority’ of TV programmes will be made outside of London, with a similar shift seen in radio and news. According to the Director-General, Tim Davie, the move will bring the BBC ‘closer to audiences’.
Yet in the same week, two presenters have been accused of ‘sneering’ by the Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, at the size of another Cabinet Minister’s flag.
Now of course I don’t intend to suggest that the fate of the BBC hangs on the pride of Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, and the owner of the flag in question. However, regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the latest outbreak of flag discourse, it still provides a symbolic example of the issues which the BBC is trying to tackle with their staff moves. A disconnect with their audience.
In January 2021, a YouGov Poll found that 44% felt that the BBC did not represent their values. It is presumably this 44% that the BBC seeks to reach with their announced staff movements. But does moving journalists out of London really represent real change? Or perhaps, more importantly, is this change even possible?
The flag incident would seem to suggest it is not. One poll found 22% of Britons describe themselves as ‘very patriotic’. 10% as ‘not patriotic at all’. The 10% suggests that the BBC presenters would have probably been representing one perspective of public opinion. However, judging by their remarks being called ‘sneering’ by the Culture Secretary, this gives the impression that the BBC should not attempt to offer a ‘diverse perspectives’ that engage ‘all audiences’, as they are obligated to in their Charter. Obviously, some remarks near the end of an interview should not be taken as overly significant, but the reaction to them should be.
It seems the United Kingdom has reached a point in its public discourse that certain people find the mere expression of certain viewpoints offensive. This makes it near impossible for the BBC to offer ‘diverse perspectives’.
This idea is also supported by polling on the perceptions of bias in the BBC. A plurality (38%) of Conservative supporters believe the BBC is ‘much more favourable’ towards Labour/the left. Meanwhile, only 6% of Labour supporters thought the same.
If personal politics can cause such disparity in our perceptions of objectivity, it seems hard to believe that in today’s divisive politics the BBC will be able to better represent people, when any example of one perspective is jumped on as if it constitutes a complete rejection of an alternative perspective.
What will be interesting, is if the presumably right-leaning GB News manages to better represent the 44% who were left at shore by the ship of BBC News. If it does, then it could prove the possible hostility to alternative points of view that I have suggested here. If not, it will show a need to examine what this 44% actually want, to feel represented.
