Giles Sheldrick says that once a source of national pride, the BBC has now become an international embarrassment.
Gary Lineker, what have you done? (Image: Getty)
Some years ago a propaganda film showcasing all that was good about Britain’s state broadcaster ended with the words “all because of the unique way the BBC is funded”. The corporation was, of course, referring to the licence fee – the TV tax that today sees those still paying it fleeced £174.50 a year. But for how much longer? It now seems inevitable the latest scandal to rock the BBC – coupled with rising public revolt against what it stands for – will see the licence fee scrapped within years.
At a time when most people use multiple subscription channels the BBC looks like an analogue behemoth in a streamlined digital age. And it is not hard to see why there is such a rebellion against a compulsory flat-rate fee. With each passing year more and more people argue they do not use the BBC, let alone need it, and are simply not purchasing a TV licence. We are not newly arrived at this crossroads.
The BBC was once a bastion of unimpeachable standards and integrity (Image: Getty)
The roll call of shame associated with the BBC, each having done untold reputational damage, is well-known: Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall, and Huw Edwards being the most obvious five examples.
But there are others.
For years prolific crisp flogger Gary Lineker – paid upwards of £1.3 million a year by the taxpayer to present a weekly football highlights show – made himself a sixth as he was free to pump out left-leaning drivel online without any sanction.
The BBC was once a bastion of unimpeachable standards and integrity with unrivalled coverage of news, drama, comedy, and sport.
It was once a source of national pride. It is now an international embarrassment.
As if to illustrate the kind of thinking that pervades New Broadcasting House the BBC ditched the annual Boat Race because bosses think the popular annual event is too haughty and pompous. Its new home will be on Channel 4.
It joins The Open Championship (golf), live cricket coverage, and Formula 1, staples lost to Sky Sports.
The BBC was once known as the crown jewel of British broadcasting. It now pumps out leftovers and repeats.
Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone was pulled after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official, while a broadcast from this year’s Glastonbury Festival showed nauseating Bob Vylan leading a baying crowd in chants of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” and “free, free Palestine”.
It followed months of complaints – and protests – by frightened British Jews over claims the BBC was “whitewashing terror” with its pro-Hamas propaganda.
But the latest – and most outrageous – scandal saw Panorama doctor a Donald Trump speech to make it incorrectly appear as though he directly called for violence on the day his supporters stormed the US Capitol.
The controversy did for director-general Tim Davie who threw in the towel (eventually) but the US President has threatened the BBC with a $1bn lawsuit.
To many it is proof the taxpayer-funded corporation is fundamentally untrustworthy and can no longer be relied upon to maintain the standards it is meant to uphold.
The BBC’s legally defined mission is to act in the public interest through impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain.
It is why the bloated broadcaster cannot expect the public to shrug its shoulders every time it messes up – especially over matters so serious.
The BBC trousers most of its income – around £3.7bn – from the annual TV tax. Just 80% of households currently cough up for a licence with the number tumbling each year.
Watching the BBC without one risks a fine of up to £1,000 and, potentially, imprisonment.
But why should the public be force-fed such outrageous propaganda, under the threat of such serious punishment, for something it is increasingly ashamed of?
Even now a chorus of current and former employees continue to wonder what all the fuss is about.
That just about says it all and is why a vast bulk of Britian thinks the time has finally come for the close of transmission, with the BBC defunded and turned into a subscription service where you pay your money and take your choice.
