British Broadcasting Corporation

(BBC)

   The BBC is the national public-service broadcasting service in the UK and the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, its motto being ‘Nation shall speak peace unto nation’. Its charter lays down its brief, which is ‘to inform, to educate and to entertain’. Theoretically free from political and commercial influence, it has long prided itself on its commitment to provide high-quality coverage via its programmes and information services, broadcasting as it does on radio, television and the internet. It is an autonomous body run by a Board of Governors appointed by the Government for a term of four years. Day-to day management of the Corporation is placed in the hands of a Director General, appointed by the Governors.

   In spite of its commitment to balanced programming, there are regular accusations from politicians of all persuasions that the BBC is biased against them. Many Conservatives have long been uneasy about the continued existence of a public corporation funded from a licence fee, finding it conflicts with their free-market principles. They have portrayed it as pro-Left, hence the occasional labels ‘Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation’ and ‘Buggers Broadcasting Communism’. During the Thatcher–Major years, some claimed that its journalists were over keen to expose the less successful and gloomy aspects of life in Tory Britain and detected an alleged pro-Blair bias in its political coverage. Particularly over the reporting of events concerning Iraq and other controversies, Labour in office has often had rows with programme editors, culminating in the Gilligan affair. Governments long in office tend to see BBC interviewers as excessively combative. In times of war, ministers sometimes portray the Corporation as too sympathetic to the views of the enemy.

   See also: Hutton Report