Published: 12 October 2012
Region: Worldwide
Lord Patten, the BBC Trust chairman, launched new impartiality review into corporation’s coverage of religion, immigration and Europe. The BBC‘s news coverage of religion, immigration and Europe is to be scrutinised in an independent review following accusations of liberal bias, reports Guardian.
Lord Patten said the review was an acknowledgment of “real and interesting” concerns from some quarters about the impartiality of the BBC’s news coverage. According to him, the review would focus on immigration, religion and Europe because those are the topics that provoke most concern from the BBC’s critics.
The corporation has long faced accusations of liberal and leftwing bias from politicians and other sections of the media, reports Guardian.
The BBC’s coverage of controversial topics including immigration, religion and the European Union will come under the spotlight in the review, which is expected to be published in early 2013. It may also include coverage of Islamophobia.
The review’s independent lead author Stuart Prebble said:
“It will be fascinating to examine how the BBC’s understanding of its commitment to breadth of opinion has evolved over the last few years, particularly considering the growth of social media and the impact this has had on the way people talk to and about the BBC’s coverage of complex news stories. I am looking forward to taking on this important review.”
It is the fifth impartiality review by the BBC Trust, the corporation’s governing body, and follows an internal 2007 report that described a “largely unconscious self-censorship” that led to certain opinions being routinely under-represented.
The independent report will compare the way the BBC deals with immigration and religion now with coverage in 2007, when the BBC Trust published a 12-point plan in an attempt to silence its critics on impartiality.
The 2007 report found no evidence of a conscious bias at the corporation, but said senior BBC figures acknowledged a tendency to “groupthink” which often led to an unconscious liberal slant on big issues, reports Guardian.
To read full article in Guardian, click here.