John,
The Battle of the Beeb rages on, and the results are already playing out in real-time.
Today, historian Rutger Bregman revealed the BBC cut a crucial line from a lecture it had already approved: his description of Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt President in American history.” Bregman says the order came from the "highest levels" of the corporation.
He calls this “self-censorship driven by fear.” He’s exactly right.
Under threat of a $5 billion lawsuit from Trump, the BBC is hiding behind a distorted version of "impartiality" to appease the very forces that want to dismantle public broadcasting altogether. The irony is stark: Bregman's lecture is about the "paralysing cowardice" of today’s elites and institutions, about how “universities, corporations, and media networks bend the knee to authoritarianism.”
The recent resignations of senior leaders were the first break in the dam. And yesterday’s hopeless Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing – which heard from key BBC executive staff – only confirmed the direction of travel.
Robbie Gibb (BBC Board member, former comms chief for Theresa May, helped found GB News) played the victim, insisting he has "impartiality through [his] bones" while defending plans to court Reform UK voters.
Michael Prescott (BBC adviser who Gibb helped appoint, author of the leaked "BBC bias" memo) confirmed his ties to Trump mega-donor Larry Ellison. He claims he still wants an impartial BBC, even as his associates work to defund public broadcasters.
As sociologist Dr. Russ Jackson writes: this is a “sophisticated campaign by ideological enemies and commercial competitors to undermine the BBC’s independence.”
The fight over a single edited line in a lecture is not an isolated incident. It is the latest front in a broader war for control of public information. The BBC is just one key battleground, and its surrender would pave the way for a media landscape designed not to inform the public, but to serve the interests of a few powerful actors.
We’ve always believed that independent public service broadcasters like the BBC play a crucial role in the democratic process. Yes, the BBC does have its share of problems. But we’ve seen GB News, Fox, NewsMax, and the other alternatives they’ve got on offer.
Don’t be fooled by the talk of "impartiality." This is about control.
