BBC's demise is 'tempting prospect', jokes John Whittingdale (Culture Secretary)

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Culture secretary also says corporation’s approach to impartiality drives him ‘insane’ in talk to Conservative students
John Whittingdale described the BBC as a ‘a market intervention of around £4bn by government’.

John Whittingdale has said the BBC’s approach to impartiality drives him “insane” and joked about abolishing the corporation in a talk at Cambridge University’s Conservative Association.

In a marked departure from careful public statements made ahead of the publication of a white paper on the next BBC charter, the culture secretary also indicated his commitment to hand part of the licence fee to outside organisations to make programming such as children’s TV, arts coverage and local news. “There is a case for having some plurality, so that the decision as to what programmes are commissioned isn’t exclusively taken by the small group of commissioning editors at the BBC,” he said.
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Director general Tony Hall last week sought reassurances from the chancellor, George Osborne, that so-called “top-slicing” would not take place, having considered the prospect ruled out under the funding agreement struck with the Treasury last year.

The comments, which were first reported by Cambridge University’s student newspaper Varsity and verified by Broadcast, were made at an event last Friday, in which he described the BBC as “a market intervention of around £4bn by government”.

They reveal Whittingdale’s dissatisfaction with the way the BBC handles complaints over impartiality. He told the association that “sometimes they will drive me insane” and confirmed he would strip responsibility for handling complaints from the BBC Trust.

The pro-Brexit minister added that the corporation “finds it difficult to take seriously people who have a different view of the world” and “has always regarded people who want to leave Europe as faintly mad [and] it has generally been in favour of spending public money rather than those who want to see lower taxes”.

He also jokingly said of the BBC’s charter, which runs out at the end of 2017, “if we don’t renew it, it may be that the BBC will cease to exist, which is occasionally a tempting prospect”.

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http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...e-impartiality

Much like much other parts of the state, the current government is almost certainly a fan of privatising the BBC. Anyway, I'm just curious what peoples views on the BBC actually is and peoples opinions on how it's being treated by current government (like forcing them to pay for pensioners licences so central government doesn't have to).

I used to like the idea of it as a completely program-based institution but in recent years no matter how much they pretend to not have adverts there's still like 5-10 minutes per hour of broadcasting that is clearly not a scheduled program but advertisements - albeit for their own shows most of the time. I don't have strong views one way or the other on it going under (although I strongly suspect that it won't do so any time soon) but it's definitely not something I'd actually care about really unless the BBC were paying me for something

The BBC is biased but not in the way many think of biased. As Peter Hitchens has made the point, the BBC believes that it can be fair on say Question Time by inviting a Labour, Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Ukip MP on and that is that. That's fair in the eyes of the BBC. And you can extend that belief to the commentariat they have on to discuss news stories, the topical debate programmes, the comedy shows - the entire lot. But of course the BBC doesn't seem to understand that beliefs are where the real bias lays - not in which organisation or political party you identify with. For just one example, the death penalty in this country is supported by 50% with 50% against... but when have you ever seen the BBC have a 50/50 panel on the issue? Never. It's the same if you look at coverage of Donald Trump over Hilary Clinton and so many other issues. Or if you'll ever notice the snarling of BBC presenters when asking questions - have you ever heard them question a pro-gay marriage supporter in a aggressive tone? Never. Apply that to so many other issues.

All that said there are some parts of BBC coverage that I feel are very fair handed such as Nicky Campbell's "Any Questions?" which is a superb programme that has a very wide spectrum of opinion represented from social conservatives to the outright reaches of planet tumblr. And I would say the same applies to Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics and This Week who comes across as very impartial and fair handed.

I think the main argument for privatising the BBC isn't actually bias but as to why a digital age we're still having to put up with a state funded broadcaster.