UK’s Nandy Defends BBC Against Accusations Of Institutional Bias
She also said that the two resignations this week “are not the answer to the challenges that the BBC has faced over recent months.”
The UK government defended the British Broadcasting Corp. against accusations of institutional bias, as it sought to lower the temperature of the crisis that’s escalated at the national broadcaster in recent days over a misleading edit of remarks by Donald Trump.
“The concerns that have been raised are serious in and of themselves, but some in this house have gone even further, suggesting that the BBC is institutionally biased,” Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “It is by far the most widely used and trusted source of news in the United Kingdom. At a time when the lines are being dangerously blurred between fact and opinion, news and polemic, the BBC stands apart.”
The BBC on Monday apologized for a misleading edit of remarks by Donald Trump that featured in a documentary last year, prompting the US president to threaten legal action and the broadcaster’s director-general, Tim Davie, and its news chief, Deborah Turness, to step down.
The spat arrives at a time when the British government is resuming its periodic review of the BBC’s funding model, whose current terms are set to expire at the end of 2027. UK households are currently charged an annual license fee, a system that has been undermined in recent years by competitors’ streaming models. New arrangements are being considered to be in place from 2028 under a revised “royal charter.”
Nandy said she would “shortly” publish a green paper and launch a public consultation to inform her review, which she said “will ensure the BBC remains fiercely independent and is genuinely accountable to the public it serves.”
She also said that the two resignations this week “are not the answer to the challenges that the BBC has faced over recent months.”
The spat between Trump and the broadcaster is problematic for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. His left-leaning Labour Party expects the premier to defend the BBC against attacks from the right, but he has also cultivated a positive relationship with Trump in a bid to secure favorable terms on trade and continued US support against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The documentary in question made Trump appear to say that his supporters should “walk down to the Capitol” and “fight like hell” before the riot outside the US legislative building that day. In fact, he said they should “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.” The “fight like hell” remark was from a different part of the speech.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to denounce the BBC as “corrupt” and the departed executives as “dishonest people” and accuse them of trying to influence a US presidential election, and his lawyers on Sunday wrote to BBC Chairman Samir Shah threatening to sue the news organization for $1 billion if it didn’t “retract the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” made about him.
The BBC said that it would respond “in due course,” though in a letter to a UK Parliamentary panel, Shah on Monday acknowledged the program wrongly gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action” and said “the BBC would like to apologize for that error of judgment.”
The ructions at the BBC have also prompted criticism domestically, with opposition parties calling for an overhaul of the national broadcaster. Nandy pointed out that the broadcaster has been criticized periodically by politicians on both the left and the right of the country’s political spectrum.
“Those in this house attacking the BBC from left and right for not expressing views they agree with should consider just what is at stake,” Nandy said. “There is a fundamental difference between raising serious concerns over editorial failings and members of this house launching a sustained attack on the institution itself.”
