The BBC had a poor election and a poor Brexit, being accused of political bias by both Left and Right, both Leave and Remain. It tends to respond in such circumstances that this shows that it has got the political balance of its coverage about right. However, it could equally well be argued that the Beeb’s notions of balance and impartiality need to be completely rethought in the present political and media moment.
Accusations of bias from the Right are not exactly difficult to rebut, given that the methodology underlying even allegedly serious studies is hopelessly inadequate and wouldn’t be remotely acceptable in even a first year media studies essay. (Of course, such BBC critics think that media studies is a leftist plot too). Nonetheless, these studies are frequently invoked in the relentless criticisms of the BBC by Tory MPs and by the Tory (and pro-Brexit) press. Ofcom’s recent Review of BBC News and Current Affairs uncovered that views on such programmes are formed not just as a result of people actually watching them, but also from how these programmes are reported in the press and in the short hop to the echo chambers of social media. So it’s hardly surprising that the BBC receives an ever-swelling postbag accusing it of being a hotbed of leftism and Remainery.
Much more sophisticated critiques, such as Glasgow University’s long-running series of Bad News studies, suggest that BBC news and current affairs coverage is, at the least, skewed in favour of the status quo, and indeed sometimes leans distinctly to the Right. But these appear to have had little impact on BBC thinking. Of course, these have not had the distinct advantage of being amplified by Tory newspapers and politicians.
