Tory MPs accused BBC Director General, trying to minimize concerns about impartiality of the Corporation.
Tim Davie, a BBC Radio 4 interviewer, denied anti-Conservative bias. He said: “I believe I am led to the data and public reaction we receive and overall, the numbers surrounding impartiality are strong at the BBC.
“I believe that we can do better. But it’s not party politics and party-politicized agendas. It’s more about larger points of view.
Tim Davie, pictured in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today last week denied any anti-Conservative bias
However, senior Tories charged Mr Davie with ‘changing his tune’. He had previously accepted that maintaining impartiality at BBC was a concern.
Julian Knight, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said, “It seems that Herr Davie does change his tone depending on whom he is talking to,”
“He acknowledges there are issues when he comes in front of the Select Committee. The BBC must take time to look in the mirror, because it’s clear not all is well.
Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘Anyone with an interest in politics – or any interest – will be concerned by the obvious anti-Conservative bias shown by the BBC. Admitting that you have a problem can be the first step in solving it.
Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen (pictured) said: ‘Anyone with an interest in politics – or any interest – will be concerned by the obvious anti-Conservative bias shown by the BBC.’
According to the BBC, the Today interviewer Mr. Davie referred too was based on data from multiple sources. This includes a late-last year report by Ofcom.
While the BBC has a higher percentage of impartial viewers numerically than any other broadcaster in the world, its audience is far greater. Ofcom reports that 55% of viewers gave BBC TV News a high rating for impartiality. However, more than half (21%) gave the BBC a low grade.
BBC radio, and its online services score better than ITV News.
Ofcom expressed concerns over BBC bias in a study that found: “Although viewers rate BBC news very highly for trustworthiness and accuracy as in past years, they still have less favorable views about impartiality.”
It also shows that Ofcom has received almost three times as many complaints regarding BBC impartiality over the past four year period, going from 586 in 2017-18 down to 1,530 in 2020-2021.
Ofcom stated that only 0.6% of the complaints were accepted. However, it said: “Due impartiality continues to be a concern for viewers, and impartiality complaints constitute a large portion of complaints about BBC.”
The relationship between the BBC, the Conservatives has become more fractious due to persistent claims by the Corporation that it is pursuing an anti-Tory agenda. This claim the Corporation denies.
The MoS announced last weekend that Nadine Dorries, Culture Secretary to the Corporation had imposed a freeze on the Corporation’s two-year license fee
A BBC spokesperson said that the Ofcom report was clear. More people believe the BBC is impartial than other broadcasters. IPSOS Mori polling, which we included in our annual report, shows that the BBC remains the impartial news source.
“We are aware of the value of impartiality for our audiences and have developed a new ten point plan that will raise standards even further.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith stated: “It is ironic that BBC fact-checkers chase everybody but don’t bother with the BBC when it comes down to fact checking.”
ROSS CLARK: Slash bloated pay and axe Radio 1 Xtra…How the Beeb can save £285m at a stroke
We need more money. David Attenborough wins! This is the BBC’s standard response to the question of the license fee.
And so it was last week when Director General Tim Davie was interviewed in that very independent of places – the Radio 4 Today studio – about the Government’s proposals to freeze the fee for the next two years before abolishing it in 2027.
It was, claimed Mr Davie, tantamount to a real-terms cut of £285 million a year, adding up to close to £2 billion for the remaining six years of the agreement.
When Director General Tim Davie (pictured in 2020) was interviewed about the Government’s proposals to freeze the fee for the next two years before abolishing it in 2027 last week it was, he claimed, tantamount to a real-terms cut of £285 million a year
He said that the BBC already had made significant savings and could not expect to make more without cutting to its frontline programs.
In other words, there might be no more David Attenborough tramping through the jungle looking at wonderful plants and animals – although why the Corporation would dump one of its most successful programmes rather than, say, little-watched comedians spewing out Left-wing propaganda on late-night shows is puzzling.
The BBC, as with any organization, could cut costs if they really needed to.
In fact, there is an easy way to cut £285 m from its budget: just carry on doing what it did last year when Covid stopped or delayed the making of some series.
The BBC ended up with a £290 m surplus. The difference will not be noticed by many viewers.
Here, though, is a list of ways of cutting £285 m for discussion at the next BBC board meeting:
Executive pay: £1.5m
Mr Davie in September 2021. Boris Johnson is paid £157,372 a year – small beer compared with Mr Davie’s basic salary of £429,000 last year
David Cameron, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, told public sector workers who were highly paid that they needed a very good reason to pay more when he began to tackle large amounts of public debt.
The BBC continued to pay extravagant salaries, but the memo did not seem to reach them.
Boris Johnson is paid £157,372 a year – small beer compared with Mr Davie’s basic salary of £429,000 last year. With pension payments and other benefits, he ended up with £471,000.
If the BBC trimmed the basic salaries of its ten most senior executives to that of the PM, it could save serious money: £1.51 m, in fact.
Presenters’ pay: £7.9m
The BBC has been shamed into trimming some of its most excessive presenter salaries since it was obliged to make public any salaries over £150,000.
Yet Gary Lineker is still paid £1.36 m a year to present Match of the Day. Zoe Ball is paid £1.13 m for her show on Radio 2.
In news and current affairs, 32 presenters were paid more than the PM last year, with Huw Edwards (£425,000) and Fiona Bruce (£405,000) the highest paid.
Gary Lineker, pictured, is still paid £1.36 m a year to present Match of the Day
If these salaries were all trimmed back to the £157,000 earned by Mr Johnson, it would save £2.5 m a year.
It doesn’t stop there. The PM is not the only radio host who receives more money than any other presenter. After Zoe Ball, Steve Wright was the next highest paid, receiving £465,000. Cutting these salaries accordingly could save £2.92 m.
There are a further 14 miscellaneous presenters – or ‘on-air’ talent as the BBC calls them – who received more than the PM, including Stephen Nolan (£405,000) and Vanessa Feltz (£390,000).
Slashing these back could save a further £2.51 m – making £7.93 m in total savings.
Don’t bring back BBC3: £40m
BBC3, which was supposed to offer content for people aged 16-30, was shut down in 2016. The BBC claimed that younger viewers were more likely to watch on-demand television, rendering a TV station redundant.
The BBC instead put their shows online, and some of them, like Fleabag or Normal People have had success.
Why, then, now spend £80 m – twice what is currently being spent on BBC3’s online shows – relaunching a channel which the BBC closed only six years ago? Leaving things as they are would save £40 m a year.
Get rid of BBC4: £29m
BBC4 began in 2002 with the goal of producing at least 100 hours per year.
But last year the Corporation announced that all new programmes would be aired on BBC2 instead, and BBC4 would become a ‘showcase’ for its ‘rich archive’ – in other words, repeats.
Given that it no longer has much of a purpose, the £29m spent on BBC4 last year could be saved.
Close down Radio 1 xtra: £8m
The BBC’s structure was simple in 1970: it had two television channels and four radio stations. These were used to broadcast pop, classical and factual music.
Now, there is a plethora of extra stations as the BBC tries to cater for various sections of the population – and tramples on the toes of commercial radio in the process.
According to BBC-speak, Radio 1 Xtra is a ‘digital urban contemporary’ channel – which, to the rest of us, means it pumps out nothing but rap, already well catered for on Radio 1. According to the BBC’s latest annual report, it cost £8 m last year.
Do away with Radio 4 Extra: £3m
Like the TV channel BBC4, Radio 4 Extra is a depository for repeats – broadcasting stuff pretty indistinguishable from what is being broadcast simultaneously on Radio 4.
You can find a lot of this material online. The world could easily live without it – saving the BBC £3 m a year
Cut Radio 6 Music: £12m
Radio 6, which plays music from 1960s through the present, is actually just duplicateing Radio 2’s output.
The BBC budget can be reduced if it’s not already. It is better for the Corporation to focus on just a few channels than trying to reach everyone.
Scrap CBBC: £58m
CBBC’s Blue Peter presenter Mwaksy Mudenda. CBBC is for children aged 7-12 years old the most costly BBC channel in terms of per-viewer cost.
Only one channel is needed for children, and that should be CBeebies. It’s for children from 6 to 6.
CBBC for children aged 7-12 is the most expensive BBC channel, in terms cost per view. Scrapping it would save £58 m.
CBeebies has been a success so it might be able to take over some of the more challenging projects for older children.
Stop wasting so much on taxis and hotels: £5m
One employee who wrote in Ariel used the BBC’s taxi booking system and was quoted £87 for a trip from Tonbridge to Gatwick Airport – compared with £45 charged by local taxi firms
In 2020, it was revealed the BBC had wasted £350,000 in one year on train fares for journeys which were never made, hotel rooms never occupied and taxis never used.
In the three years to 2014, according to a piece in the BBC’s now-defunct staff magazine Ariel, the BBC spent £34 m on taxi fares.
Even when the taxis have been booked, the BBC will often pay more for them.
One employee who wrote in Ariel used the BBC’s taxi booking system and was quoted £87 for a trip from Tonbridge to Gatwick Airport – compared with £45 charged by local taxi firms.
Let’s use this as a guide and estimate that the BBC could save around half of its taxi bill – saving around £5 m a year.
Trim local radio and TV: £17m
In 2018-19, the BBC spent £118 m on local radio channels in England, £28 m in Wales and £26 m in Scotland.
However, only 12.7% listen to BBC stations local radio and much overlaps with local broadcasting.
Each local TV news bulletin contains a local forecast. It is shown just seconds after the national one.
It is bizarre to have separate forecasts for London and the South East – it is impossible to give a weather forecast for the South East region without inadvertently also giving one for London.
It is especially costly to operate regional language stations. BBC Alba, the Gaelic language TV station, cost £7.9 million last year – 14.3p for every hour someone watched it.
There is also a Gaelic radio station, Radio nan Gaidheal, which cost £4 m – 20.8p per hour.
In Wales, Radio Cymru cost £13.5 m – working out at 16.9p per minute that anyone watched it.
Radio 1 was listened to at 6.2p per hour, and Radio 4 cost just 4.9p. Let’s trim 10 per cent of the local radio and TV budget and save £17 m.
Stop wasting money on fancy buildings: £90m
BBC Studios and offices in MediaCityUK, Salford Quays. The latest NAO report said the BBC spent £273 m a year running its portfolio of 154 buildings
In 2015, the National Audit Office (NAO) looked at Broadcasting House and revealed the building was costing £89 m a year to run.
Despite the fact that some operations were moved to Salford, this was still a great result.
The latest NAO report said the BBC spent £273 m a year running its portfolio of 154 buildings.
The company paid more for identical buildings than any other organisation, and 12.7 Percent of its assets was unoccupied.
With more people now working from home, let’s assume the BBC could stop using a third of its portfolio of buildings and save around £90 m a year.
Save money on sets: £14m
An EastEnders set as filming begins on the soap last week. The average EastEnders viewership per episode was 21.1 million in its heyday, 1987. It dropped to 6.68 million by 2017.
In the heyday of EastEnders in 1987 there were 21.1 million viewers per episode. It was only 6.68m by 2017.
The BBC has not stopped spending money on a brand new set of equipment for this programme. It was supposed to cost £57 m but according to the NAO, it will end up costing £86.7 m – enough to build 1,000 real social homes rather than a few facades for Albert Square.
Let’s assume the BBC could this year avoid wasting just half the money it overspent on rebuilding Albert Square – and save £14 m.
TOTAL SAVED: £285.4m