The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism‘s annual Digital News Report for 2022 is out. The data-heavy report is full of findings about how and where news is consumed. The data points that struck Guido hardest were the loss of trust in BBC News. It has fallen 20 points in the last five years, from 75% to 55%. Equally telling is the proportion who say they distrust the BBC, which has more than doubled from 11% to 26%. This the Reuters Institute says is because
“The majority of these are from the political right, echoing criticism from Boris Johnson’s government about an alleged anti-Brexit and liberal bias, but we also find that low trust in the BBC also comes from those who are less interested in news altogether. … Declining trust is a particular challenge for public media organisations, as they try to fulfil their mission to appeal to all audiences.”
As the BBC becomes a cultural pump for the woke agenda dressed up as entertainment, it loses legitimacy and weakens the case for universal funding. If it dismays a sizeable section of the population the case for moving to a subscription model funded by consenting viewers becomes overwhelmingly stronger. No doubt leftie metropolitan types will point out that the least trusting of the BBC are Brexit-backing Tory blokes without degrees in media studies, so it doesn’t matter. It does because they are forced to pay a television tax to fund an organisation that despises them, a situation which cannot prevail for much longer…
Farcical scenes from the Lords inquiry into BBC funding this afternoon, as half the panel charged with discussing the future of the licence fee immediately admitted to having financial interests – including pensions – in the BBC. This is a panel that also happens to include Tony Hall, the ex-Director General of… the BBC. Obviously this couldn’t possible prejudice the impartial outcome of the inquiry’s work…
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has arrived at the BBC’s doorstep today, banners in hand, to campaign against the licence fee and the broadcasters’ plan to prosecute an estimated three quarters of a million people over non-payments by 2027. 742,518 prosecutions, according to the TPA’s calculations…
It follows yesterday’s announcement from BBC COO Leigh Tavaziva that she expects to see “a doubling in prosecutions” with the reintroduction of field agents post-Covid – and that, apparently, there’s still “strong support” for the licence fee across the country. Speaking outside BBC Broadcasting House today, TPA grassroots campaign manager Harry Fone said:
“BBC bosses have confirmed that hundreds of thousands more could face charges because of the hated TV tax. Taxpayers are sick of being expected to pay an outdated TV licence fee which is simply not fit for the 21st century, on pain of imprisonment. Ministers must act now to axe the TV tax and spare many from the pain of pointless prosecutions.”
As BBC protests go, however, the TPA aren’t putting their tanks on Guido’s lawn…
The BBC’s impartiaility drive seemingly doesn’t apply to the lefty ‘artistic’ drivel that Radio 4 comes out with, not least Today’s Thought for the Day segment, which would often sit perfectly well as a Labour Party press release. Earlier this month the channel broadcast a particularly egregious example of left-wing bias, during a show called Something Understood. The following poem was read out:
“Aberfan, multiple sclerosis, spastics and the Somme. Bloody mysterious.
Cancer, Culloden, famine and President Botha. Weird.
Motorway pileups, cot deaths and Hiroshima. A trifle peculiar.
Schizophrenia, Zeebrugge, Thatcherism and Belsen. Damn strange.
Aids, Ulster, Strokes, carboard city and of course the human being. Is he worth an hour on Sunday? Surely not.”
The poem clearly listed examples of the world’s most evil and tragic phenomena and events. Why was Thatcherism included directly next to Belsen and not, more relevantly, Nazism, Stalinism or Maoism that between them killed tens upon tens of millions? That will be one for the BBC editorial team to justify…
The campaign group Defund the BBC is hosting a debate at Conservative Party Conference on whether the BBC licence should be reformed or scrapped. Speakers include former Secretary of State Rt Hon David Davis MP and Reasoned presenter Darren Grimes.
Successive governments have backed away from confrontation with the BBC at the last minute and the campaign group is looking to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
“The BBC licence is a discriminatory tax which unfairly hits the vulnerable hardest” Campaign Director, Rebecca Ryan says, adding “but it’s also totally archaic and unpolicable. The BBC can only continue to raise funds this way through coercion and threats. It’s time for the BBC to join the 21st century and move onto a voluntary subscription model that covers just BBC content.”
The event takes place on Tuesday October 5th 2021, 4pm, Rylands Suite, Novotel.
It’s not just Princess Diana causing a migraine for the BBC this morning. A report by MPs has slammed corporation bosses as “complacent and unconcerned” about their finances after the report found around 200,000 households a year are stopping paying the telly tax. Over 500 licence fee losses a day…
The haemorrhaging of viewers has contributed to a £310 million black hole in the BBC’s finances. The report came from parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, and says that “when pressed, the BBC seem unconcerned by the decline, maintaining that overall the number of users it reaches is high compared to other broadcasters”.
The report also says that despite – as Guido first revealed – plans for an increased presence “in the nations and regions”, the plans “seem unclear and disjointed”. Guido commends all 200,000 who have seen sense…
Read the report in full here:
