Take bias seriously, MPs tell BBC chief

Director General accused of glossing over anti-Tory slant in his warning on budget cut

TORY MPs have accused the BBC’s Director General of seeking to underplay concerns about the Corporation’s impartiality.

During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last week, Tim Davie denied antiConservative bias, adding: ‘I think I am led by the data and the public reaction we get and overall the numbers around impartiality are strong for the BBC

‘I think we can keep doing better, but it’s not about party politics or party-politicised agendas, it’s about wider points of view.’ But senior Tories accused Mr Davie of ‘changing his tune’ after previously accepting that ensuring impartiality at the BBC was a matter of concern. ‘It seems that Mr Davie does change his tune according to who he is speaking to,’ said Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Select Committee. ‘When he appears in front of the Select Committee he acknowledges that there are some issues... The BBC needs to have a long hard look at itself in the mirror because clearly not all is well.’

Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘Anyone with an interest in politics – or any interest – will be cocerned by the obvious anti-Conservative bias shown by the BBC. The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem.’

The BBC said the data referred to by Mr Davie in the Today interview came from several sources including a report published late last year by media watchdog Ofcom.

While numerically more people consider the BBC impartial than any other broadcaster, the Corporation commands far bigger audiences, and the Ofcom report says only 55 per cent of viewers rated BBC TV News highly for its impartiality and more than one in five (21 per cent) gave it a low score. BBC radio and its online services scored better, but so did ITV News.

Indeed, the Ofcom study expressed concern about BBC bias, stating: ‘Although audiences rate BBC news highly for trust and accuracy, as in

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previous years, they continue to be less favourable about impartiality.’

The document also reveals that the number of complaints to Ofcom about BBC impartiality has almost tripled in the past four years from 586 in 2017-18 to 1,530 in 2020-2021. While only 0.6 per cent of these were upheld, Ofcom said: ‘Due impartiality remains a concern for audiences, and impartiality complaints represent a large proportion of complaints received about the BBC.’

Relations between the BBC and the Conservatives have become increasingly fractious with persistant claims that the Corporation is pursing an anti-Tory agenda, which it denies. Last weekend the MoS revealed Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries had hit the Corporation with a two-year licence fee freeze

Defending its record, a BBC spokesman said: ‘The Ofcom report is clear: more people consider the BBC to be impartial than any other broadcaster, and IPSOS Mori polling in our annual report shows the BBC continues to be seen as by far the most impartial news source. We are acutely aware of the importance of impartiality to our audiences, which is we have a new ten-point plan to raise standards further.’

Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘It’s ironic that the BBC’s fact-checkers are always chasing everybody, but when it comes to the BBC they don’t seem to bother. ’