Post by Teddy Bear on Nov 4, 2010 18:54:23 GMT
An insight into the BBC by Daniel Hannan of The Telegraph following his experiences with the corporation.
Does anyone at the BBC read the Telegraph?
By Daniel Hannan
Tom Utley once wrote a superb article about the fact that his file at the BBC simply said “very Right-wing”:
I’m evidently next to Tom in that BBC file. Nine times out of ten, when a Beeb researcher telephones me, it’s in the hope that I can be persuaded to launch an angry, stupid and ideally racist attack on the Coalition (see here).
Which rather raises the question: what the devil are BBC researchers being paid for? I mean, it’s hardly as though either Tom or I make a secret of our opinions. Tom has had a weekly column for years, first at the Telegraph, now at the Mail; and I blog at least once a day. Like Tom, I consider myself a liberal – although, unlike Tom, I made the journey from Tory to Whig some years ago. Indeed, the most frequent complaint I get from readers of this blog is that I am too supportive of the Coalition. Although I disagree with David Cameron about the EU (obviously) I think he is doing the right things as PM: scrapping quangos, freeing schools, reforming welfare, cutting the deficit. Is it really such a difficult idea that you can support someone in general while not agreeing about everything?
Too difficult, it seems, for our state broadcaster. Have a look at the Hardtalk interview that has just gone out on BBC News and BBC World, and is available in iPlayer for those in the UK. The interviewer, Stephen Sackur is a charming fellow, and a fine reporter. Yet his researchers had obviously scripted the interview in advance as “foam-flecked Right-winger attacks Cameron”. Stephen carries on with questions in this vein pretty well regardless of the answers that I’m giving. When I cite the various localist reforms that the Coalition has, as David Cameron frankly admits, borrowed from me and Douglas Carswell, he expresses surprise that I am supporting what he calls “Lib Dem policies”.
My purpose isn’t to complain about the Hardtalk people, who were friendly and helpful throughout. It’s to wonder where our licence fee is going. I mean, how many elected politicians make their opinions as accessible as I do? This blog is the very first thing that comes up if you Google my name. If BBC researchers can’t find ten minutes to look at what I believe, rather than projecting on to me their assumptions of what all Right-wingers must believe, what are they doing all day?
Does anyone at the BBC read the Telegraph?
By Daniel Hannan
Tom Utley once wrote a superb article about the fact that his file at the BBC simply said “very Right-wing”:
What a withering way to sum up the many complicated opinions, not all of them rational or coherent, that go into a chap’s political make-up. It is not even true, either. If I had to stick a label on myself, I would say that I am a liberal Tory, one of the millions who are against unnecessary state interference in economics or the conduct of individuals and institutions.
I’m evidently next to Tom in that BBC file. Nine times out of ten, when a Beeb researcher telephones me, it’s in the hope that I can be persuaded to launch an angry, stupid and ideally racist attack on the Coalition (see here).
Which rather raises the question: what the devil are BBC researchers being paid for? I mean, it’s hardly as though either Tom or I make a secret of our opinions. Tom has had a weekly column for years, first at the Telegraph, now at the Mail; and I blog at least once a day. Like Tom, I consider myself a liberal – although, unlike Tom, I made the journey from Tory to Whig some years ago. Indeed, the most frequent complaint I get from readers of this blog is that I am too supportive of the Coalition. Although I disagree with David Cameron about the EU (obviously) I think he is doing the right things as PM: scrapping quangos, freeing schools, reforming welfare, cutting the deficit. Is it really such a difficult idea that you can support someone in general while not agreeing about everything?
Too difficult, it seems, for our state broadcaster. Have a look at the Hardtalk interview that has just gone out on BBC News and BBC World, and is available in iPlayer for those in the UK. The interviewer, Stephen Sackur is a charming fellow, and a fine reporter. Yet his researchers had obviously scripted the interview in advance as “foam-flecked Right-winger attacks Cameron”. Stephen carries on with questions in this vein pretty well regardless of the answers that I’m giving. When I cite the various localist reforms that the Coalition has, as David Cameron frankly admits, borrowed from me and Douglas Carswell, he expresses surprise that I am supporting what he calls “Lib Dem policies”.
My purpose isn’t to complain about the Hardtalk people, who were friendly and helpful throughout. It’s to wonder where our licence fee is going. I mean, how many elected politicians make their opinions as accessible as I do? This blog is the very first thing that comes up if you Google my name. If BBC researchers can’t find ten minutes to look at what I believe, rather than projecting on to me their assumptions of what all Right-wingers must believe, what are they doing all day?