How to throw out the filthy ‘BBC News’ bathwater but save the baby
In response to a recent Facebook post about UK comedian and journalist Josh Howie saying he will refuse to pay his BBC licence fee as a protest against the overt and egregious anti-Israel bias seen in its coverage of the Middle East, a well-known broadcaster wrote the following: “The sooner the cesspit that we are forced to pay for is defunded, dismantled and thoroughly investigated, the better…”
I like the idea of “defunding,” “dismantling” and “thoroughly investigate” but I fear that just as no government will do more than tinker around the edges of the NHS for fear of the political backlash, so no government is likely to take on the mighty BBC for fear of the even more crushing repercussions it would undoubtedly unleash.
And that is a pity because the time has definitely arrived for the BBC to lose that £3.6 billion in licence fee income. Surely in light of its role in generating antisemitism through its biased coverage of Israel and in light of its “mistakes” with regard to Israel – which curiously ALL promote a narrative of Palestinians as “victims” of Israel – it no longer deserves that whopping annual windfall (of £3.6 billion.) In light of – well, in light of pretty much everything really, it no longer deserves that £3.6 billion, but particularly for its decision to air a Hamas-made propaganda film as a “documentary,” and then to double-down and defend its decision until one man with a computer revealed the “documentary” for exactly what it was, though not until part of this overt anti-Israel propaganda was aired for impressionable youngsters via BBC Newsround. Oh, and its failure to include a single word about the Bibas funeral on its main 6pm news on what was demonstrably a quiet news day.
It is important to remember when talking about “defunding” the BBC, that the BBC is not a monolith. It comprises separate, fairly autonomous divisions. And we really don’t need to “defund” or “thoroughly investigate” Traitors, Strictly or Only Connect. Nor do we even need to “defund” or “investigate” shows like HIGNFY or The News Quiz where casual anti-Israel slurs are heard, as that’s merely the outpourings of indoctrinated dolts rather than formal “policy” as it appears to be across News, Current Affairs, World, etc.
The parts that urgently need to be “defunded” and “thoroughly investigated” are News, Current Affairs and the former World Service (now just plain old “World.”) as those are the parts where the most heinous, anti-Israel bias and the most poisonous pro-Palestine, pro-terrorist, pro-Islamist narratives flourish and replicate.
Though defunding alone would hurt, it would not be the killer blow as long as News, etc and Entertainment were under one roof (metaphorically speaking, obvs). While that remains the status quo, News, etc could continue to be financially propped up by all those popular, revenue-generating shows. But without them to prop it up, News, etc, would need to be entirely self-sufficient.
The best solution, therefore – and the one that BBC News execs fear the most – is to forcibly divide News, etc, from Entertainment; to separate the Six O’clock News from Sort Out Your Life and issue a decree nisi divorcing University Challenge for all time from the Today Programme.
The complete separation of News and Entertainment would also be welcome news for those of us who are vocal in our condemnation of the corporation’s outrageously biased news coverage yet appreciate the “entertainment” side and would hate it to disappear. This solution, therefore, would let us throw out of the filthy bath-water without also throwing out the adorable baby.
“Divide and Defund” – or possibly “Defund and Divide” – is my new slogan. It is the perfect (and long-overdue) solutions to the problem that is BBC News.