The corporation is in danger of commercial censorship, writes Dr Kevin Bannon, Elizabeth Budd believes
BBC TV news is increasingly cautious, while Nick Nuttgens thinks journalists are asking the wrong questions
George Monbiot hits the nail on the head (The biggest threat to the BBC’s independence is the corporation itself, 7 October). However, if “impartial” means to represent the values of a notional political centre then the BBC is hardly likely to secure itself there, as this centre has been racing to the right for more than 40 years in the
UK and globally. Thus, as Monbiot recognises, political power lies more firmly than ever in the grip of the hard right via its monopolies in high finance and the commercial media. These are poised to “liberate” what remains of the already well-commercialised BBC (the result of outsourcing) so that its newsrooms and its other departments will join the commercial monopolists in extolling the virtues of the free market, amounting to totalitarianism by commercial censorship.
Even the proscriptive controls associated with tyrannies make clear what may not be broadcast, whereas commercial control is invisible, insidious and pervasive; imagine its effect on the nation’s discourse, political or otherwise. The BBC should be entirely protected from vested interests; it might then represent at least a token of opposition to the market behemoth and its narrow value for money ethos. Dr Kevin Bannon
London