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| John Whittingdale advancing on Broadcasting House (as imagined by Roger Bolton of 'Feedback') |
The BBC's 'nemesis' John Whittingdale has been speaking at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Here are some of the things he said, as quoted by the Independent and the Guardian:
This idea that there is an ideological drive to destroy the BBC is just extraordinary, the people rushing to defend the BBC are tilting at windmills, they are trying to have an argument that has never been started, certainly not by me.
Britain's image abroad is enormously strengthened by the success of the BBC.
Do I think there is general bias towards the left? No.
For the moment, the licence fee or something like it is the best option.I’m not convinced that people feel that it is right that the BBC Trust decides if the BBC has got it right or wrong. We haven’t decided yet whether to give it to Ofcom, but Ofcom do carry out that function for other broadcasters and certainly there is an argument … I would say Ofcom are doing a good job in terms of regulation of complaints over Channel 4 and over ITV. I think they probably could do it for the BBC. Whether that’s the right outcome, we haven’t yet decided but a lot of people do hold that view and have expressed it.
