‘Every time a little goes off, hardly noticeable’

The BBC was recently rocked again by a scandal involving a well-known presenter. Critics of the British public broadcaster dived into it. Yet many Brits do not want to do without it. ‘The BBC holds the country together.’

Most British Conservative politicians have actually always distrusted the BBC. The most famous of all Conservatives, Winston Churchill, was convinced 70 years ago that the national public service broadcaster was “run by reds” – that is, by socialists. Compare that with the anger of Claire Bullivant, editor at the website, among other things Conservative Post, who grumbled this summer: “The BBC seems like one long party political broadcast for Labor these days. It’s just becoming a soap box for the political left. It is a shame.”

So there was some suppressed joy here and there in early July when allegations emerged that BBC newsreader Huw Edwards (61) had paid a 17-year-old adolescent money for sending sexually explicit photos. It has not yet been proven, but the radical right-wing media in particular could not have fun with the tabloid scoop The Sun. For them, every stick to beat the BBC with is one.

Commercial media

That BBC hatred comes according to Peter York, co-author of the book The War Against the BBC, stems primarily from a general ideological aversion to public enterprises. In neoliberal eyes, the media sector should also form a free market, where supply and demand are dependent on each other. A considerable number of right-wing think tanks, often largely funded from the United States, have been tirelessly pounding the BBC using that argument for years.

In addition, according to York, commercial British media, often “in the hands of foreign billionaires”, invariably amplify the attacks on the BBC. Because they see the BBC, which is subsidized with public money, as a nuisance competitor. “And finally, there is the problem that a group of right-wing politicians also simply have a paper-thin skin,” he says. “Any bit of criticism in a BBC report, they immediately shout that the public service broadcaster is a left-wing stronghold and the reporting is biased.”

Former TV producer John Mair cannot suppress a cynical laugh. He adds: “Like the Tories (Members of the Conservative Party, ed.) say that the BBC should be impartial, they usually mean that the BBC should allow more Tories to speak.”

Two hours a day

However, most Britons value their public service broadcasters correctly. Despite all streaming services and social media, an average UK resident uses the BBC for more than two hours a day: via television, radio or online. Ironically, the average Tory voter of all is the most addicted to British public service. Because especially the elderly vote for the Conservative Party, and they are by far the most often on the radio and television.

The BBC is also the news medium that Britons still trust most. “Although you can see that the figures are declining,” says Mair. Of course, scandals such as the accusations against newsreader Edwards do not help. Nor did the recent uproar over a critical tweet from BBC sports presenter Gary Lineker about Britain’s strict immigration policy. Lineker drew a parallel between the government rhetoric surrounding that policy and former Nazi Germany.

‘BBC takes a critical look at itself’

Still, from a journalistic point of view, the BBC deals remarkably well with those scandals, says Will Wyatt. He was director of the British public service broadcaster in the late 1990s. “It is remarkable that the BBC is as critical of itself as of all other organisations. Can you imagine a newspaper like The Times posts a story on its front page about problems with The Times?”

Only in the scandal surrounding Jimmy Savile, who died in 2011, were huge mistakes made, he admits. For example, the BBC refused to broadcast a documentary that showed that the star presenter had sexually abused children for years. In the end, that scoop came on TV via channel ITV.

Confidence in the BBC may be slowly waning, research by polling agency YouGov shows that most Britons do not think the BBC’s reporting is too left-wing. Only one in five Britons surveyed in May said they saw such a progressive bias. More than half said they found the BBC neutral or simply did not know. A quarter thinks the BBC is too right.

‘Pride is justified’

“The tricky thing is that the BBC’s ambition is to offer something to everyone in society,” says Wyatt. “That is a challenge. Often what pleases one person irritates another. And if someone strongly believes in something, he will rarely appreciate reporting that does not endorse his view. Still, in terms of left-right, I think the BBC strikes a pretty good balance.”

The British should therefore be proud of the BBC, says Patrick Barwise. He is Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing at London Business School and the other co-author of The War Against the BBC. According to him, the British public broadcaster is absolutely essential in the current time, full of fake news.

Resilience to fake news

He points to Swiss-Belgian research that shows that the population in countries with a strong public broadcaster is more resilient to disinformation than people in countries with a more marginal public broadcaster, such as the United States. The research results show this effect mainly in Scandinavian countries, but also very clearly in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

“Look, it is understandable that leaders like Vladimir Putin in Russia and Xi Jinping in China don’t like the BBC,” says the professor. “But it is shocking that many influential people in the UK themselves are also trying to bring down the BBC. Now that journalism and liberal democracy are under pressure, a well-functioning public broadcaster is more important than ever.”

His writing partner York agrees. “The BBC is, of all things, the most admired public service broadcaster in the world,” he adds. And ex-TV producer Mair goes even further: “The BBC is a national institution that holds the UK together.” It is not for nothing that the nickname of the British public broadcaster is ‘Auntie’ (aunt). The BBC is almost as familiar as family to many Britons.

Competition

David Elstein shakes his head despondently when he hears all those praise. He sometimes seems almost the only one who cares about media pluralism, he sighs. He calls it exceptional that a country like the UK tolerates one such dominant news organization. “The average Brit gets almost 70 percent of his news from the BBC,” says the former TV producer who launched Channel 5’s first new British TV channel in 1997. “The BBC is so big that it hardly leaves room for private alternatives. It pushes it out of the market. That is harmful.”

Elstein would like to see the BBC’s news division split into separate sections, each with its own final editorial responsibility. He would tear apart the BBC’s TV and radio news. And then also disconnect the normal TV news from the 24-hour news channel. BBC Northern Ireland, BBC Wales and BBC Scotland should all become news organizations with editorial freedom. “Then you at least create diverse voices within the BBC itself.”

Barwise is not impressed by the proposal. “There is already diversity,” he says. “There are countless newspapers, the majority of them right-wing. And on TV you have ITV, Sky News, Channel 4 and Channel 5, all of which are politically neutral like the BBC, plus GB News and Talk TV which are clearly right-leaning.” The professor just wants to say: no one is forcing you to watch public broadcasting.

High-quality programs that make money worldwide

Moreover, the BBC is more than just news. Many abroad also watch the wonderful drama series and all the quiz, comedy and other entertainment formats that the British broadcaster delivers every year, for example. The BBC therefore had more than 6 billion euros to spend in the financial year 2021-2022. That is thirteen times as much as the VRT or six times as much as the Dutch NPO spent in 2021. Although it should be noted that the UK has 67 million inhabitants.

The smaller Dutch and Belgian TV audiences make it relatively expensive to make your own programmes, explains Barwise. “And the fact that you speak English so well means that you watch and listen to a relatively large number of foreign programmes.” In addition, Dutch-language programs from the public broadcaster are generally less easy to export than English-language shows from the BBC.

Cheese slicer method

The BBC is therefore quite a few steps ahead, but dark clouds are still gathering over the British public broadcaster. Competition from streaming services is fierce. And since 2010, the BBC has lost 30 per cent of its budget under various Conservative governments, adjusted for inflation. Mair: “If the Tories win the next election again, the BBC will be in serious trouble.”

Barwise: “The dangerous thing is that it happens with the cheese slicer method. Each time a little goes off, barely noticeable. But over a longer period of time, that has an impact. The quality of programs decreases as a result. And if the quality decreases, people will eventually start to wonder why they are still paying viewing and listening fees. If the BBC ever collapses, it won’t be because of competition from Netflix. Or because the BBC is not innovative enough. This is mainly due to the cutbacks.”