The BBC’s war on traditional values, by Paul Dacre
from The Conservative Woman:
With the news reported at the weekend that the former editor of the Daily Mail is in the frame as chairman of Ofcom, we thought it well worth revisiting the Cudlipp Lecture which he gave in 2007 in which he made a devastating attack on the BBC, accusing it of ‘a kind of cultural Marxism’, of ‘perverting political discourse’ that is harming political debate and failing to represent the views of millions of licence fee-payers. It is still relevant today. Here are some extracts, and you can read the entire speech here.
HOW often do you hear, on Newsnight, contemptuous references to the tabloid or popular press as if it was some disembodied monster rather than the very embodiment of the views of the great majority of the British people?
Fair enough, you might say. The tabloid press is big enough to look after itself. Except I don’t think it is fair, because this ignores the ever-burgeoning influence of the most powerful media organisation in the world: the hugely subsidised BBC. And it’s my contention that the BBC monolith is distorting Britain’s media market, crushing journalistic pluralism and imposing a monoculture that is inimical to healthy democratic debate.
Now before the liberal commentators reach for their vitriol – and, my goodness, how they demonise anyone who disagrees with them – let me say that I would die in a ditch defending the BBC as a great civilising force. Indeed I for one would pay the licence fee just for Radio 4. But the corporation is simply too big. For instance, it employs more journalists and their support staff – 3,500 – and spends more on them – £500million – than do all the national daily newspapers put together.
Where there was once just a handful of channels, the BBC now has an awesome stranglehold on the airwaves, reaching into every home every hour of the day – adding ever more channels and even considering launching over 60 local TV news stations across the UK.
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