A very British scandal

In the past few days I have been joyfully watching the BBC’s award-winning adaptation of the brilliant John Le Carre’s Night Manager.  High, high quality television from that brilliant and quintessentially English writer.  For me, TV doesn’t get any better.

Likewise with the excellent Blue Lights series which apart from being a well-made cops drama provided this Irish viewer with some telling insights into the particular “Troubles” related challenges of officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

There are many additional programmes and categories of TV and radio of which the BBC should be immensely proud (think, for a moment, BBC Radio 4 or the BBC’s nature, comedy and music programmes).  Despite the current agenda of attacks on the BBC (some warranted, many others not so), there is a compelling case to be made for its defence. 

Those observations aside, there is every reason to be not just disappointed with the BBC, but to be angry and also fearful.  In recent times, the much vaunted “values” and “controls” of the BBC have all too often been weak or entirely absent (just think the Jimmy Savile scandal in 2012).

For me, much of that has been predicably associated with coverage of the conflict in Northern Ireland over many years and, most recently, the deficient coverage of the genocide in Gaza (particularly the attempts to be “even-handed” about its atrocities).   

However, the current focus is on the furore around a flagship Panorama programme which involved the unprofessional splicing of excerpts from the highly controversial speech by defeated President Donald Trump (on January 6th, 2021) and the airing of that programme in October 2024 in the lead up to the subsequent US election. 

To be a Panorama editor preparing excerpts from an incendiary speech by a highly litigious and “legacy media” hostile US President and to be careless and unprofessional in that editing was not (as was officially claimed) merely a “mistake” but was, in effect, an egregious act of self-sabotage. 

Not surprisingly, Trump and his regime have subsequently seized on this act, claiming it was “false and defamatory” causing “overwhelming reputational and financial harm” (a mind-boggling claim coming from that source).

Trump is now threatening the BBC, arguing that it is his “duty” to sue the organisation for between $1 and $5 billion (a B-grade gangster movie shakedown of the British people).  Whether this actually happens (or could even happen legally) is a moot point in the broad scheme of Trump’s local and international political agenda. 

Little else could be expected from the current US regime, but what has happened (and could happen) in Britain is where the real danger lies.  This latest “shot in the foot” from the BBC has played directly into the hands of political and media interests hostile to the organisation, what it represents and its enduring popularity. 

Despite its many failings and errors, the BBC remains the most trusted source of information in Britain by a significant margin  (eclipsed only by the Financial Times). It vastly eclipses the trust ratings of the many tabloids which routinely attack it, claiming to represent the “real” views of “the people”.      

The BBC has long prided itself on holding the centre ground but in today’s Britain, that ground is shifting and evidently to the right of the political spectrum.  

But, in the febrile atmosphere of the UK today (and in the context of the deep-seated damage inflicted on itself by the Brexit saga and its associated chaos, magical thinking and dishonesty), the BBC is continuing to lose support among those least likely to identify with it politically and culturally. 

And crucially, it is that cohort of the population, which is on the rise.  

The fundamental damage caused by the Panorama debacle is to the very legitimacy of the BBC and its overall role.  For many years now, the BBC has been an ideological battleground.

The Panorama mess and how it was (mishandled) has played directly into the hands of those who have zero interest in an independent media or in defending accuracy or professional standards.  This is most especially true of those now attempting to force Britain further to the right and even to the far right. 

The existential danger for the BBC is that it seeks to emulate that rightward trend. 

The idea of a news landscape dominated by the values, ideologies and behaviours of tabloids such as the Daily Mail or those of GB News or worse, those of a Trump-inspired or controlled “truth” industry is deeply alarming. 

In this context, the BBC deserves our critical but vigilant support.  For all our sakes, it is vital that the BBC (and by extension the British government and people) do not give in to Trump’s agenda.  It should follow the example of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (and many other US companies, universities and institutions) and, if necessary, defend itself in court and in public. 

This debate has implications for Malta, currently suffering from advanced vertigo as a result of the relentless spinning underway in the context of the ICC conclusion on the fraudulent hospitals deal.  Anyone hoping to maintain a grasp on the reality of this “deal” (and all that has surrounded it) needs to ensure the robust health of an independent media sector (one that is routinely under attack) in Malta.