MAITLIS ‘CHUCKS ROTTEN EGGS’ AT FORMER BREXIT MEP: Craig Byers (Is The BBC Biased? 12/9), noting that Emily Maitlis was back presenting BBC2 Newsnight after a fortnight’s break – during which new director general Tim Davie had announced a renewed drive towards impartiality – argued that, in presenting an item about UK-EU Brexit negotiations, she had made not ‘the faintest …
BBC BIAS DIGEST 10 SEPTEMBER 2020
ANDREW NEIL ‘CONSIDERING HIGHER PROFILE BBC ROLE’: Robert Mendick (£ Telegraph 10/9) claimed that former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil had been offered a ‘higher profile than he had before he was taken off air’ by new director general Tim Davie, and that Mr Neil ‘regarded as one of the most forensic political interviewers on television’ was believed to be …
BBC BIAS DIGEST 9 SEPTEMBER 2020
BBC ‘WOMEN’S HOUR HAS MADE ITSELF REDUNDANT’: Allison Pearson (£ Telegraph 9/9), noting that ‘talented’ presenter Emma Barnett had been appointed as the new main presenter of BBC Radio 4 Women’s Hour, replacing Dame Jenni Murray, commented that the programme had become ‘too pious’ for her and that there was a ‘weary inevitability’ to the fact that an item on …
BBC BIAS DIGEST 8 SEPTEMBER 2020
DAVIE ‘HAS FIGHT ON HIS HANDS’: Former BBC producer and news executive Robin Aitken (£ Telegraph 8/9), in a wide -ranging assessment of the scale of the challenge facing new director general Tim Davie, argued that the task ahead was ‘formidable’ because ‘every BBC employee, from the most junior researcher to the most senior editor, is subject to the same, …
Tim Davie: Reformist or PR Hype?
Is Tim Davie genuinely a reformer? His regime as new BBC director general took off at an apparent breakneck speed from September 1. In his first three days in office, he reversed the decision not to include the sung version of Rule Britannia in the last night of the proms; said he was going to ensure BBC output was scrupulously …
BBC Bias Digest – 7 SEPTEMBER 2020
NEW DG ‘CONSIDERS TWO-TIER’ BBC LICENCE FEE: James Robinson (Daily Mail 6/9) reported that new BBC director general Tim Davie was considering the introduction before the end of the current BBC Charter in 2027 a two-tier licence fee – with basic and premium packages – as well as future funding via income tax, which would involve a sliding scale levy …
BBC BIAS DIGEST 4 SEPTEMBER 2020
CHARLOTTE MOORE APPOINTED TO BBC BOARD: A BBC announcement (3/9) said that Charlotte Moore had been appointed Chief Content Officer of the BBC – in charge of all content except that originating from BBC News and the nations and regions – and had joined the corporation’s executive board. The release said: The Chief Content Officer’s responsibilities include: Television commissioning for …
BBC BIAS DIGEST 3 SEPTEMBER
BBC MUST ‘URGENTLY CHAMPION IMPARTIALITY’: Dan Sales (Mail online 3/9) said that new BBC director general Tim Davie, in his first address to staff, had asserted that if they wanted to be opinionated columnists or partisan campaigners on social media, they should not be working at the BBC, and that the corporation needed to urgently ‘champion and recommit to impartiality’. …
BBC Bias Digest 2 September 2020
Mark Duell (Mail online 2/9) reported that the BBC had announced that sung versions of Land and Hope of Glory and Rule, Britannia would be included in the last night of this year’s proms on September 12, reversing an earlier decision that they would not be. Guido Fawkes (2/9) included the full BBC statement: ‘The pandemic means a different Proms …
BBC BIAS DIGEST 1 SEPTEMBER 2020
‘DAVIE FACES EXISTENTIAL BBC THREAT’: Edward Browne (Express 1/9) reported that in a speech to staff on Thursday, new BBC director general Tim Davie was expected to announce a shake-up in BBC comedy output so that it was no longer dominated by ‘left-wing bias’. He reported that according to ‘inside sources’, the BBC was perceived as targeting the Conservative party …