Comment by dijit
2 days ago
The thing is, the BBC is incredibly partial, depending on which area of the BBC we're talking about.
BBC News on the web vs BBC News the programme, vs BBC worldwide (which is a seperate org inside the BBC), then there's regional BBC and the prime time talk shows (the hard hitting Andrew Neil and co).
So, when someone says "the BBC is biased against the left" or "the BBC is biased agains the right"; ironically they can both be right, and it's not an indicator of impartiality. It depends on which section of the BBC we're talking about.
And you're totally blind to the bits of the BBC you agree with; you will think those bits are the impartial ones.
The BBC is institutionally biased in two major ways:
* Pro the royal family since it is chartered by them.
* Against Scottish independence since it would lose 10% of its funding.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the national media service being 'pro the nation' (counting the UK as the nation for arguments sake).
That said however they can't make things up, or overtly bury critical stories...but putting a softer slant on them wouldn't be unreasonable.
It is a loyal state broadcaster. If it had been up to the BBC, then the Prince Andrew story would have been buried. They tried to bury it several times but the Americans don't take orders from Buckingham Palace.
Their coverage of the Scottish independence referendum was laughably biased and often clueless.
They do seem to have an odd attitude towards Nigel Farage (UKIP & Reform) though, and kept putting him on Questiontime and the radio. It seems unclear why they would promote him so much given much of their other content.