BBC: Government Role in Impartiality
Debate between Lord McNally and Lord Robathan
Lord Robathan (Con)
My Lords, does the House not remember those halcyon days—oh, okay. If you want.
Lord McNally (LD)
What courtesy from the Conservative Benches—there is hope for them yet. It is our turn; that is why I am standing.
My Lords, the Minister of State, Julia Lopez, made my heart leap yesterday when she told the Commons:
“The BBC is a world-class broadcaster, a creative engine and a cultural institution producing some of the best television and radio in the world.”—[Official Report, Commons, 14/3/23; col. 714.]
She slightly rolled back on that later when addressing some of her Neanderthals by reassuring them that the mid-term review in 2024 would deal with some of their concerns. I wonder: will that mid-term review be just a one-way street of more squeezes on the BBC or will other things be considered, such as the decision to do away with the UK BBC News service? Will it consider the long-term impact of the campaigns run by the Murdoch press, Associated Newspapers and Express Newspapers, all tax-exile owned and all with a massive self-interest in diminishing and attacking the BBC? Will the mid-term review be a genuine two-way street, bringing things back as well as getting rid of them?