Everyone has an agenda when they pronounce about the BBC, but not everyone is open about it, so here’s my declaration of interest. I treasure the BBC. I do so not just because I enjoyed being one of its graduate trainees and presenting programmes on the Beeb. It is one of this country’s institutions that we can genuinely call world class. The BBC is not perfect, but its flaws are greatly outweighed by its many virtues. No other country has a national broadcaster like it and we’d be fools to allow it to be destroyed. A monthly cost per TV-owning household of £13.25 – a single trip to the cinema will often set you back more – is outstanding value for the calibre and range of its output. The aspiration to be fair and balanced in its news reporting and analysis is not always impeccably fulfilled, but in my experience BBC journalists make an energetic effort to achieve that goal and are doing so in an environment in which it has become more and more challenging.
Trustworthy news is critical when so much of public life is being drenched by a tsunami of misinformation and the threat from deep fakery is growing ever greater. This is also a period characterised by intense political partisanship. That makes it more essential than ever that we have a broad church national broadcaster to provide an arena in which people of all political denominations can engage with one another and a place to which the public can confidently turn at moments of national drama. During the pandemic, more Britons went to the BBC than anywhere else for reliable information. During election nights, the BBC is most people’s first choice to bring them the results. It is a binding agent for Britain at times of both crisis and celebration.
