Is This Impartiality? The BBC, UKIP and Me

Some readers may, like me, wake early on these lovely late spring mornings, full as they are of birdsong. If you do, you may have roamed in the shadowy borderlands between the BBC World Service (or what’s left of that once-majestic institution) and BBC Radio 4. There’s a handover at about 5.15 a.m., when the Shipping Forecast and the Inshore Waters Forecast are broadcast. And, despite a modern policy of giving the job to people who have no poetry at all in their voices and delivery, the recitation of the lovely, evocative names of all these headlands, capes and bays can be a thing of beauty in itself. It’s followed by a neat little package called ‘News Briefing’, which a few years ago replaced the ‘Radio Four UK Theme’, an unacceptably patriotic medley (presumably the reason for its abolition), made up of the tunes of traditional songs from all over our islands.

 

Anyway, ‘News Briefing’ has a concise summary of the main news stories, a weather forecast and a quick review of the morning’s newspapers. This is, of necessity, highly selective. But should it be as selective as it was this morning?

 

I invite readers to follow the link (below) to today’s news Briefing’. At about 5.40 a.m., it quotes from my column item about UKIP, which (as you can see from the blog posting immediately before this) concerned the ganging up of the Tories and the left-wing media to attack UKIP in an unprecedented fashion, and whose headline pretty much urges people to vote UKIP.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007rhyn

 

Now, please listen to the extract from my article which was broadcast, and ask yourselves if this is in any way an accurate reflection of what I wrote or (in the context of the other extracts from other newspapers broadcast alongside it) a proper exercise of the BBC’s absolute duty of impartiality (specifically required by the Royal Charter which establishes the BBC and allows it to levy the licence fee) in matters of current controversy, and especially in party political matters, and even more especially party political matters during the weeks immediately before an election.