Meeting held on 20th March 2023
Six people resent.
Apologies were received from five.
The situation regarding Gary Lineker and the BBC provided the main focus of the discussion. It was felt that the stand off between a popular, freelance sports presenter with a very high profile and the way the institution responded provided a wake up call to a large audience as to the government’s small boats immigration policy.
Although the requirement for BBC staff directly involved with news programmes and the analysis of the news and current affairs to attempt to be impartial is well known it can be contested. The reliance for funding by means of the licence fee can result in almost everything being potentially controversial in the search for impartiality if critical of the government. It was suggested that many news presenters and journalists on BBC TV and radio seem to manage to hide their own political views until they leave the BBC for other broadcast or print outlets.
The ability of other BBC employees either freelance or contract in other areas such as sport, entertainment, music etc. to express their opinions has been well documented.
The Governance of the BBC with the Chair and Board members being appointed by the Government of the day seems to be a model which makes true independence difficult to achieve. Some discussion followed on other possible funding models which could result in greater independence but these such as subscriptions or revenue from advertising were considered to be unpalatable to many supporters of the BBC. TV channels and newspapers which are backed by wealthy investors make no effort to be in any way impartial in their news output. A few of those present described their search for alternative sources of news and analysis on TV, radio and social media. Mention was made of Channel 4 news ( a public broadcasting remit with adverts), Al Jazeera and a number social media posts by journalists which can be accessed via YouTube. It was felt that policy addressing governance and funding should be a priority for Labour and other left leaning parties.
Finally a short discussion centred around any parallels that could be drawn between the actions of Western powers in Iraq 20 years ago and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Date of next meeting: 17 April 2023