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Alistair Campbell, the prime minister’s chief
spin-doctor, believes that the BBC was biased against Tony Blair’s policy
during the recent Iraq war. I
agree with him. I have no brief to speak for Mr. Campbell, and have
performed no detailed analysis of programme transcripts. Nevertheless most
BBC journalists were clearly hostile to Blair’s policy throughout the build-up
to and in the aftermath of the war. The
BBC was clearly advocating delay and further recourse to the United Nations
right up until the war started. Subsequently the corporation has played
down the success of the campaign and devoted an excessive amount of time to the
alleged failure to find weapons of mass destruction, and such side issues as the
dodgy dossier. Others may disagree.
The war was unpopular before it started and some people may believe
that the BBC maintained its neutrality or was even biased in support of the war.
They are entitled to their views. The
line between partisan bias and neutrality is in the eye of the beholder, and
impossible to draw. The real issue here is that the BBC is different.
Campbell does not complain about the much greater bias in the Daily
Mirror, Morning Star, Sun or Mail, and nor should he.
These are all free organs of the press.
If no-one buys them they disappear. In contrast we are all forced to pay for the BBC via our licence fees. Even if the BBC had been neutral about the Iraq war, people who supported the war would still resent having to support it. If they watched Sky or Fox News, which both more nearly reflected their views on what was going on, why should they pay for the BBC? It would have been no better if the BBC had supported
government policy. That’s the job
of Alistair Campbell. Governments like a supportive press, but democracy
requires a critical one. It would be great if Tony Blair were to get this message.
The BBC should support itself from subscriptions and advertising, or go.
Once we’ve got rid of it we will wonder why we ever permitted ourselves
to be forced to pay for a state broadcasting service. It will seem as odd as the propaganda machines of Eastern
Europe do to us today. There is no
place for a state broadcaster in modern democracies. Jim Thornton Nottingham 29 June 2003 |
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