Last night's Any Questions asked the question, "Does the BBC have a problem with impartiality?"
The answer came back, "No!".
All four panellists - a Tory, a Green, a Lib Dem and some from the Labour Party - agreed that there's no problem with BBC impartiality (though everyone makes minor slips from time to time). The Green and the Lib Dem said that the BBC is one of the jewels of our country. Its reputation for impartiality is known throughout the world and we take it for granted, they said. The Tory said he'd much prefer to shout at the Today programme occasionally than have unbalanced broadcasters like CNN or Fox (despite being a Fox himself). The only disagreement was on the government's role. The Tory praised the government while the left-of-centre panellists all agreed that the government has gone too far. "Hands off the BBC!" was their message, and the Devon audience applauded that long and hard.
All four panellists - a Tory, a Green, a Lib Dem and some from the Labour Party - agreed that there's no problem with BBC impartiality (though everyone makes minor slips from time to time). The Green and the Lib Dem said that the BBC is one of the jewels of our country. Its reputation for impartiality is known throughout the world and we take it for granted, they said. The Tory said he'd much prefer to shout at the Today programme occasionally than have unbalanced broadcasters like CNN or Fox (despite being a Fox himself). The only disagreement was on the government's role. The Tory praised the government while the left-of-centre panellists all agreed that the government has gone too far. "Hands off the BBC!" was their message, and the Devon audience applauded that long and hard.
So there was consensus that the BBC isn't biased and there was universal love and admiration demonstrated for the BBC from both the panel and the audience. All very cosy.
And Jonathan Dimbleby decided not to play devil's advocate over this....not surprisingly, perhaps, given his own outspokenness on the issue in the recent past.
And Jonathan Dimbleby decided not to play devil's advocate over this....not surprisingly, perhaps, given his own outspokenness on the issue in the recent past.
Will Any Answers feature any callers disagreeing with everyone on Any Questions?
This is like asking the audience of Strictly if they think the BBC spends too much money on ratings-grabbing light entertainment.
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