According to research by Cardiff University and the University of Sussex it has been found that business leaders are 19 times more likely to interviewed by the BBC than trade union representatives even though the latter is the largest democratic body in the country with six million members. The research also found that there is a discernible bias towards the right wing political ideologies and that the news coverage is anything but neutral. Although there are some extremely good programmes made by the BBC it is letting down millions of people in the UK with its agenda of not telling us what is going on. From David Dimbleby to Peter Allen there is an obvious conservatism that only favours the status quo. Specifically for those who disagree with the establishment view and parties. The failure to include The Green Party in pre election debates is just another example of the chasing of viewers over substance.
To help explain why powerful people in powerful positions make the choices they do we need to understand unconscious bias:
and then do something about it.
Is it any wonder that disenchanted viewers and licence payers are now turning elsewhere to be informed? From blogs to social media to newspapers to broadcast media there are few places to go to provide an all round perspective. Many people would celebrate a media that provided a wide coverage politically and philosophically and the BBC should be the obvious place. But it isn’t. People are finding that they cannot trust the mainstream to give them substantive news and are looking to people who do not have the government of the day breathing down their necks. If only the BBC could be braver in its news coverage and invite a much wider spectrum of people from across the demographics. Don’t they understand how fed up we are of Etonian’s and Oxbridge’s or The Russell Group universities telling us their version of reality? Let us do it ourselves. It’s no wonder that Paul Mason ran to the hills – I am surprised he lasted so long.
Come on BBC News make us proud and be democratic or don’t be surprised if you become the anachronism that many elites would prefer i.e privatise you and sell you to Murdoch…. Democracy and balance finally consigned to history? I sincerely hope not.
Douglas James
