by David Keighley, TCW
THOSE who have the temerity to question the impartiality of the BBC have for decades been rudely classed as deluded or conspiracy theorists by the Corporation. Now, in an astonishing interview on the Unherd website, a former BBC Director of News and Current Affairs has in effect admitted that those critics are substantially right.
Fran Unsworth led the BBC’s 7,000-strong, £300million news machine during one of the most politically volatile periods imaginable, between 2018 and 2022. It was a period marked by Brexit, covid, Black Lives Matter, the rise of transgender activism, mounting rows over Net Zero and the accelerating collapse of public trust in institutions.
Questioned by Rob Burley, former editor of the BBC One Andrew Marr Show, Unsworth described BBC News as becoming ‘increasingly unmanageable’ during her tenure. She spoke openly of bullying, ‘no-platforming’, internal pressure and ideological conformity. Journalists and editors who approached transgender issues outside approved activist assumptions faced intense hostility from within the BBC itself.
‘Maintaining impartiality became quite difficult,’ she said, a remark which alone should shake the BBC to its foundations.
For more than 20 years, organisations such as News-watch have argued that the BBC has been breaching impartiality because it has been culturally captured by identity politics, activist pressure and confirmation bias. BBC executives led by Unsworth repeatedly denied those allegations point blank.
Yet what Unsworth has now admitted is that the BBC was steamrollered over the trans issue through the Corporation’s close, cosy relationship with Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ rights group.