BBC independence
The BBC must be independent in all matters concerning the fulfilment of its Mission and the promotion of the Public Purposes, particularly as regards editorial and creative decisions, the times and manner in which its output and services are supplied, and in the management of its affairs.
Paragraph (1) is subject to any provision made by or under this Charter or the Framework Agreement or otherwise by law.
Article 3[1] of the BBC Charter, 2016[a]
The BBC's independence is one of its core tennants; its editorial independence limited only by its mission of impartiality in the public interest. With the government, duly or not, advising on what the public interest is.
The BBC has, with the possible exception of World War II, long displayed a degree of independence that public broadcasting in other Western European countries came to only later. This generalisation by Goodwin[2]: 96 is echoed often, though the pecieved and actual degrees of independence are ofttimes debated.
Of interest also, though contentious, is that internal reports (such as the Balen Report) aimed at checking its own standards of journalism, have been ruled as not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000—and thus not subject to public release.[4] It marks a perhaps odd sort of independence from overt public scrutiny.
World Service
Taking account of the strategy and the budget it has set, the BBC will agree with the Foreign Secretary-
- (a) objectives, priorities and targets for the World Service;
- (b) the languages in which the World Service is to be provided
The various foreign services of the BBC have always been tied, in some manner, to the national interest. In the 2017 Agreement, that means the Foreign Secretary. Article 33.6 (right) is subject to the Mission and the Public Purposes of the BBC as defined in the Charter, but it supersedes Article 3 (independence).[1]
This policy has put the BBC at odds with a list of Governments including
‘Its greatest victory’, according to George Orwell, was its accurate news. ‘Even in India where the population are so hostile they would not listen to British propaganda and will hardly listen to a British entertainment program, they listen to BBC news because they believe it approximates to the truth’.[8]
Interference by the British government
1926 General Strike
In 1926, the
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin was coached by John Reith during a national broadcast about the strike which he made from Reith's house. When Ramsay MacDonald asked to make a broadcast in reply, Reith supported the request. However, Baldwin was "quite against MacDonald broadcasting" and Reith refused the request.[10]
Baldwin's government blocked the BBC from broadcasting statements about the strike by the Labour Party and TUC leaders. When
1932 - The Hashagen affair
The Corporation feels that an incident so contrary to the spirit and intention of the Royal Charter should not pass without protest [...] The Governors venture to assume that it will not form a precedent.
— John Whitley, chair of the BBC, in a letter to the Cabinet Secretary[12]
In 1932, the BBC had planned a series of interviews for a progamme on 'risky exploits' called Hazard with two German officers from the
1936 - Abdication
The crisis spawned by the abdication of
1937-84 - MI5 vetting
1938-45 - World War II
The British policy of appeasement regarding fascist Italy and Germany eventually lead to the Phoney War; the period between the British declaration of war on 3 September 1939 and the German invasion of France, 10 May 1940. Starting with a speech given by Neville Chamberlain on 27 September 1938 in the days prior to the conference on the Munich Agreement, the BBC, at the request of the government, began broadcasting regular programmes in German. First to project the British position and later as propaganda against Nazi rule, believed at the time to have weak support.[16]
The Second World War increasingly had the government direct the BBC in propaganda efforts, with almost weekly government missives regarding the general media campaign.
1950 - Party Manners
In 1950, having aired the political comedy Party Manners on stage, radio and, once, on television already, a repeat showing of it was stopped. The play was about a Labour minister dealing with nuclear energy. The Attlee government that had its parliamentary majority reduced in the 1950 election advised the BBC that it found the play 'offensive'. Chair Ernest Simon agreed to drop the play from the program, which earned violent criticism from the press, the BBC's General Advisory Council as well as in the House of Lords.
As of 2024, the BBC on its website softly implies this relatively minor incident to be the only time the government interfered with anything to do with 'nuclear', closing their piece in the history section Editorial independence: the BBC and Government by quoting chair Simon to have not foreseen 'the "hurricane" of feeling his decision would stir'; and that "quite obviously no Chairman will ever dream of doing anything of the sort again". No other piece there is on nuclear energy or weapons.[18]
1954/5 - H Bomb coverage
When
Internal memos of the BBC showed that the Director General was sanitizing the broadcast on behalf of the government by advising against the airing of "a sober, but nevertheless chilling account of the dangers of radiation" by Joseph Rotblat.[2]: 108
1956 - Suez Crisis
Although the British government pressured the BBC to support the war, the BBC continued to report on the
1965 - The War Game
Goodwin suggests that the 1954/5 conflict over coverage of the H bomb informed the BBC's initial decision not to air the documentary The War Game. He affirms Michael Tracey's critical view of the government's role in the controversy[b] and adds that Norman Brook was the Cabinet Secretary and participant from the Government side in the Feb 15 1955 meeting with the BBC over the H Bomb. Brook, by now Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC, recommended that "the Government should have an opportunity of expressing a view about this", after Huw Wheldon had initially green lit the project.[2]: 114–115
1969 - Influence of international media
1979-1994 - The Troubles
Throughout the Troubles, UK broadcasters were regularly required to stop or postpone the broadcast of documentaries and other programmes relating to Ireland,[21] and government intimidation and restrictive laws had resulted in forms of self-censorship.[22] The Premiership of Margaret Thatcher then saw more direct governmental interference of media reporting on the conflict in her attempts to "try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend".[c]
An
On 19 October 1988 the British followed Ireland, who had kept
2014 - Coordinated coverage of police action
In response to allegations that would never be found of substance, police searched the property of a famous rock star in 2014, having informed the BBC prior.[29] After police tipped off BBC journalist Dan Johnson,[30] BBC reporters were on the scene as police arrived, and a BBC helicopter covered the raid as it happened.[31] South Yorkshire Police initially denied leaking details of the property search—later confirming that they had been "working with a media outlet" about the investigation.[32]
Law enforcement tried to spin the incident as "extortion" in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee which was ridiculed by MPs.[33] Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve went as far as, asserting a "collusive relationship", stating that the decision to tip off the BBC "seems quite extraordinary."[34]
Much of the public as well as legal opinion did not see the state at fault in the matter, though, and the BBC was sued successfully for infringement of the right to privacy. £210,000 in damages were awarded in 2018. Journalists expressed worry at the precedent the ruling would set for future coverage of criminality.[29]
Interference internationally
Nazi Germany
The
Russia
On 17 August 2007, it was reported that FM broadcast of the BBC's
Jamming of the foreign services
See also
Notes
- ^ While usually referred to by its effective date (1 January 2017) the 2017 charter was, unsurprisingly, passed into law before taking effect and is thus dated to December 2016.
- ^ (Goodwin cites "Michael Tracey (in Aubrey 1982, 38-55)" here)[clarification needed]
- ^ The quote is from a July 1985 speech Margaret Thatcher gave to the American Bar Association.[23] – The evaluation is Savage's.[24]
- ^ Rawnsley discusses the BBC Monitoring service and its relationship to the United Kingdom's public diplomacy through the lens of the Cold War. He does not however attribute malice. Rather, a discomfort with whom the BBC is sharing information on the content of other nations' radio broadcasting with. (The FBIS.)[7]
References
- ^ a b "Copy of Royal Charter for the continuance of the British Broadcasting Corporation" (PDF). The Secretary of Culture by command of Her Majesty. December 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f Goodwin 2005.
- ^ a b Seaton 2021, pp. 87–110.
- ^ "Press Summary: Sugar (Deceased) (Represented by Fiona Paveley) (Appellant) v British Broadcasting Corporation (Respondent) [2012] UKSC 4" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 15 February 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
- ^ "An Agreement Between Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the British Broadcasting Corporation" (PDF). The Secretary of Culture by command of Her Majesty. December 2016.
- ^ a b c Plock 2021.
- ^ a b Rawnsley 1996.
- ^ Orwell 1944.
- ^ a b c d "The General Strike" (PDF). BBC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ Higgins, Charlotte (18 August 2014). "BBC's long struggle to present the facts without fear or favour". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ^ Sinclair, Ian (23 March 2021). "Uncovering the ignorance of the BBC's big beasts". Morning Star. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ a b BBC on Hashagen 2021.
- ^ The Week-end Review. 1932. p. 124. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
- ISSN 0952-102X. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
- ^ a b Economic and Political Weekly 1968, p. 1680.
- ^ a b c Seul 2015, pp. 378–396.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "Editorial independence: Party Manners". BBC. 12 January 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ Fairhall, John (30 June 2011). "Drama sparks Suez Crisis memories". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Martin (13 January 2020). "How the UK secretly funded a Middle East news agency". BBC. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ISBN 0-333-51575-7. Archivedfrom the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
- ^ ISBN 9780415130363.
- ^ "Speech to American Bar Association". Margaret Thatcher Foundation. 15 July 1985. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
we must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend
- ^ a b Savage 2022, p. 1-8.
- ^ Welch, Francis (5 April 2005). "The 'broadcast ban' on Sinn Féin". BBC News. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ISBN 978-92-871-5675-4.
- ISBN 9780415130363.
- ^ Bowcott, Owen (19 October 1989). "50 MPs sign petition against year-old ban on broadcast interviews with Sinn Féin". The Guardian.
- ^ a b Cowell, Alan (20 July 2018). "Cliff Richard, British Pop Star, Wins Privacy Suit Against BBC". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ^ "Cliff Richard raid: Police accused of 'sheer incompetence'". BBC News. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- Sydney Morning Herald. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- ^ Robertson, Geoffrey (21 August 2014). "The way the police have treated Cliff Richard is completely unacceptable". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- ^ Hewlett, Steve (7 September 2014). "Cliff Richard raid: The BBC's breaking news dilemma". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ "Police complain over Sir Cliff Richard search 'leak'". BBC News. 17 August 2014. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ a b "BBC radio ordered off Russian FM". BBC News. 17 August 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
- Reporters without Borders. Archived from the originalon 30 October 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
- ^ Marsh, Vivien (28 March 2011). "BBC Chinese Service makes final broadcast in Mandarin". BBC. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
- ^ Dowell, Ben (20 March 2011). "BBC World Service to sign funding deal with US state department". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
- ^ "Press Office – Uzbek language broadcasts jammed". BBC. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ a b "House of Commons – Foreign Affairs: Written evidence from the BBC World Service". Publications.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ Plunkett, John (25 February 2013). "BBC condemns China's 'deliberate' jamming of World Service broadcasts | Media". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
Works Cited
- Savage, Robert J. (7 April 2022). Northern Ireland, the BBC, and Censorship in Thatcher's Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1308634169.
- Plock, Vike Martina (20 September 2021). The BBC German Service during the Second World War. Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-74091-7.
- PMC 7658670.
- Seul, Stephanie (2 October 2015). "'Plain, unvarnished news'?: The BBC German Service and Chamberlain's propaganda campaign directed at Nazi Germany, 1938–1940". Media History. 21 (4): 378–396. ISSN 1368-8804.
- ISSN 1744-6708.
- ISBN 978-1-349-24501-7.
- ASIN B01H13NXUC.
- "Keeping BBC Unfettered". Vol. 3, no. 44. Economic and Political Weekly. 1968. p. 1680. JSTOR 4359258. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
Primary Sources
- "The Hashagen affair". BBC. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-563-17774-6.