A good deal of anxiety has been expressed in the UK in recent months about the possibility that the government might take advantage of its substantial parliamentary majority to change the funding arrangements of the BBC. This idea has been greeted with howls of rage by liberal and educated opinion in the country. Considering the current performance of the Corporation as a news medium in recent weeks, however, I am coming to the view that it certainly needs a kick up the backside.
Given the importance of its constitutional remit to educate and inform its audiences I am sure that it could do a good deal better than it is doing at the moment. The news bulletins I have heard today have been dominated by two stories which perhaps have a degree of significance in themselves, but which have been treated at excessive length, in a narrowly focussed and sensational fashion. I fail to see the difference between the approach of the BBC to news values and that of the more sensational papers.
The two stories are the opening of pubs and restaurants after months of enforced closure, and the controversy over the possible involvement of Ghislaine Maxwell in the criminal activity of the late Geoffrey Epstein. The first is a potentially significant development of the policy of the government towards the Corona virus outbreak. Nevertheless, to listen to BBC reporters I would have thought that the entire country has had only one thing on its mind since March. “When can we get back to the pub?” The subsidiary question that follows has been, “Will there be violent disorder?” If you have to prioritise the virus story there are more important things to discuss.
The Ghislaine Maxwell story is (surprise! surprise!) primarily of interest because of the possible involvement of Prince Andrew. Sensational focus on the Royal family is what we might expect from the Express, not the BBC.
Incidentally, stories I have picked up elsewhere might well have included the following. The French PM (Eduard Philippe) has been forced to resign. The American state of Mississippi has changed its flag, omitting symbols that refer back to the pre-civil war period. (It is the last state to do so.) A possibly significant development in the struggle to secure equal wages for man and women is the decision by Ferrari to pay them equally for equal work. A mysterious illness seems to be killing large numbers lof elephants in Botswana. I could go on.
We deserve better than this from our public broadcaster.