I think it should be taken for granted that the BBC is biased, its bound to be, its virtually impossible not to be biased.
I disagree with how many people say it is biased however.
On Radio 4 the bias is that presenters are almost overwhelmingly socially liberal but statist. This is not necessarily a left-wing bias, since the left and right wings can be statist.
The right complain that their views are not often expressed, often it seems to me in the attempt to avoid offense to anyone. The right does get its say in many debates, but it is true that the presenter is often biased against them in their views and this inevitably taints their handling of the subject.
The worst bias however is the bias in favour of state action. In news reporting interviewers always ask what the government is going to do. I have never heard anyone question whether the state needs to do anything, criticism comes in the form of ’shouldn’t the state do this instead?’.
That is a reflection upon society and the current political climate as well as a bias within the BBC. Of course the BBC will also be predisposed in favour of state action, it is a direct beneficiary of such action.
The BBC’s hiring practice also does not help. It appears to advertise in the Guardian alone, which is a left-wing statist paper with readers who tend to take that view. The fact that employees are overwhelmingly of this view must put off those who disagree with that view, especially in current affairs.
Also, liberals who don’t believe that the state should be involved in the media to such an extent would tend to eschew such employment, preferring to work in private industry.
To my mind, the only thing which can be done to solve this problem is to privatise the BBC. I wouldn’t mind if the BBC was then a left-wing, statist propaganda station or a right-wing loony station. It at least would not be funded by the tax-payer whilst pretending to be unbiased.
I think it is impossible to have no bias in news reporting or the media. Even if its selection of the stories or what extra information you include. You cannot include everything. In today’s world of easy transmission of information and the increased ability to comment upon and criticise media stories or shows this is not so much of a problem.
