Dear John,

Nigel Farage loves to claim the BBC is “rigged” against him. So do his allies in the right-wing media. But the facts tell a very different story.

In reality, the BBC is going out of its way to appease Farage. New reporting ([link removed]) shows that top BBC executives met earlier this year to discuss plans to tailor both news and cultural content to appeal to Reform UK voters. No other political party was given that kind of attention – just Farage.

A ([link removed]) nd of course, this is part of a broader pattern:
* Farage, along with pundits like Isabel Oakeshott and Julia Hartley-Brewer, feature heavily on BBC Question Time. Studies show the programme disproportionately platforms right-wing voices.
* In 2023, BBC Director-General Tim Davie – former deputy chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative party – suspended Gary Lineker over a tweet criticising asylum policy, while others made right-wing political comments without consequence.
* The BBC routinely features voices from Tufton Street think-tanks like the IEA, without disclosing their corporate backers.

Farage doesn’t actually want a fairer BBC – he wants a more compliant one. One that serves his interests. And alarmingly, it looks like he’s getting it.

At Open Britain, we said it clearly in our Functional Democracy Goals ([link removed]) report back in 2023:

“The BBC must be restored to its role as an independent, well-funded voice that stands for the public interest.”

In a media landscape where three companies control 90% of the national newspaper market, the BBC’s public service mission is more important than ever. Democracy depends on access to reliable information, on reporting that ordinary people can use to cast an informed vote.

But the BBC cannot serve democracy while bending to the whims – and often, the lies – of the far-right.

All the best,

The Open Britain Team
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