BBC ‘not institutionally biased’, says ex-journalist who wrote impartiality memo

Evening Standard

The BBC is not institutionally biased, the author of a leaked memo on impartiality at the corporation has said.Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, faced questions from MPs on Monday after he raised concerns that a Panorama episode included selective editing of a speech made by US President Donald Trump before disorder at the US Capitol in 2021.

Transcript

00:00Do you think the BBC is institutionally biased?

00:10No, I don't, and I'm sure someone's going to correct me pretty quickly if I'm wrong,

00:14but I just re-read the memo yet again outside the door here.

00:17I don't think I use that phrase anywhere in the memo,

00:20and I do not think it's institutionally biased.

00:22Let's be very clear, tons of stuff the BBC does is world-class,

00:26both factual programming and non-factual programming.

00:30The thing was, when I say odd problem here and there,

00:38every single thing we spotted, as per my memo,

00:42seemed to me to have systemic causes,

00:44and the root of my disagreement and slight concern even today

00:48is that the BBC was not, and I hope they will change,

00:52but will they, treating these as having systemic causes.

00:56There's real work that needs to be done at the BBC.

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