The moral maze that is the BBC
On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we discussed the moral purpose of the BBC. Does it even have one?
With the government boycotting Radio Four’s Today programme in protest at its perceived bias, and now threatening to destroy it altogether through a fundamental change to its funding structure, we asked whether the Beeb’s original aim of uniting the nation has now become impossible in such an era of technological and cultural fragmentation.
Can it or should it compete with Netflix, or does it still have a unique role to play? Has its lofty Reithian purpose to inform, educate and entertain been destroyed by its constant dumbing down and relentless left-wing bias? Is it even possible for the BBC to be impartial?
Please click here (if you can access BBC iPlayer) to listen to the panel consisting of Matthew Taylor, Andrew Doyle, Giles Fraser and me discuss all this with Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland, former BBC journalist Robin Aitken, Philip Booth of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Claire Enders, founder of the consultancy Enders Analysis which deals with the international creative, broadcast and digital economy.
