Damned if they do

Opine

[oh-pahyn]

–vb/ to hold or express an opinion.

[Origin: 1575–85; < L opīnārī to think, deem]

Text Box: Democracy is institutionalised mob rule. If you want to know what a democratic BBC would look like, take the quality out of Channel 4, and out of ITV if you can find any, and there is your answer. The very fact that the BBC’s decision has provoked such a furore is the best argument for the BBC not showing the appeal. It proves beyond doubt the Director General’s point that this is such an emotionally charged and potentially catalytic issue that it is almost impossible not to take sides. In fact, by refusing to broadcast an overtly partisan appeal the BBC has already been accused of being one-sided. Comparisons to previous conflicts and appeals rest on fallacy; this conflict is like no other. In fact all the righteous indignation misses the point. It is because of the BBC that we know of the atrocity in Gaza. It is because of the BBC’s appetite for self-flagellation that we know of the DEC appeal and the controversy surrounding it. The publicity certainly hasn’t hampered the DEC’s cause. Surely the editorial independence of the BBC gives its reports of the abject misery and gut-wrenching horror of Gaza a weight and authority no appeal could hope to match? comment@opine-blog.com

27 January, 2009

Damned if they do

The decision of the BBC not to broadcast an appeal for aid on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee has unleashed the righteous indignation of swathes of middle class England.

The BBC’s decision not only received much more opprobrium in public and the wider media than that of the UK’s other major news channel, Sky News, to follow its lead. It also drew criticism from parliamentarians of all parties. Both are wrong.

MPs and government ministers have absolutely no business wandering anywhere near the editorial independence of any broadcaster, ‘publicly owned’ or otherwise. If we allow that, we allow the de facto creation of British ‘state television.’

Secondly, many Mr Angrys of Kensington cite the BBC’s nature as a public broadcaster, paid for by public subscription, as a reason the public should have a say in what it shows. The problem is, the BBC is not a democracy; that isn’t how it works, and for good reason.

> Foreign

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