“We were slow on the story. We probably didn’t like what he was saying..."

Sir Andrew Green of Migration Watch, writing in the Telegraph, has something to say about the BBC today:

Since the previous government took power in 1997, nearly five million migrants have entered Britain. The proportion of our population who are foreign-born has almost doubled since 1991, to more than 13 per cent. And if immigration is allowed to continue at present levels, the population will increase by 12 million in the next 20 years. This will have huge practical and social consequences, which must be openly discussed.

Sadly, the BBC – the main and most influential source of news for the British public – has consistently failed in its duty to inform the public about immigration, in terms of both the immediate as well as the long-term impacts. Breezy admissions of this from outgoing director-generals distract from what has clearly been a failure of duty. You could argue that any serious discussion of this topic would be made for radio and hopeless on television. But never in the 13 years since MigrationWatch was founded have I heard a radio programme set out the case against mass immigration. Instead, the process of selection, whether conscious or otherwise, has ensured that the case in favour of immigration permeates the BBC’s output. I recall that one of its executives told a newspaper: “We were slow on the story. We probably didn’t like what he was saying..."

Given some of the BBC's reporting of the subject in recent days, the corporation still has a long way to go.