The row over bias at the BBC has been led by its rightwing critics in the media, who have kept up a drip-drip of stories and interviews with politicians similarly hostile to the broadcaster.
This began when the Telegraph reported that a memo by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, had raised concerns about impartiality, including how a speech by Donald Trump was edited in an episode of Panorama.
Here we look at how the row unfolded …
Tuesday
The Daily Telegraph publishes an article on its front page under the headline “BBC’s Trump bias exposed in memo leak”. The article alleged that the BBC “doctored” a speech by Trump to make it appear he was encouraging the Capitol Hill riot. It cited “an internal whistleblowing memo” penned by Prescott, who left the BBC’s editorial standards committee in June, which included details from a series of internal reports.
The chair of the culture, media and sport committee and Tory MP, Caroline Dinenage, writes to the BBC chair, Samir Shah, to demand details of the actions taken by the BBC in response to Prescott’s allegations.
Wednesday
The Daily Telegraph follows its story on Tuesday with another front page with the headline “Heads should roll over BBC bias”, claiming the corporation is facing calls to sack its director general, Tim Davie, and other senior executives after accusations of “serious and systemic” editorial bias.
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory party leader, tells the newspaper “heads should roll” over the disclosures, which she brands “absolutely shocking”.
The coverage is accompanied by a comment piece from the former BBC director Danny Cohen under the headline “Explosive report provides hard evidence the BBC has been gaslighting us”.
Elsewhere in the paper, an article details Prescott’s concerns that the BBC’s Arabic news service chose to “minimise Israeli suffering” in the war in Gaza so it could “paint Israel as the aggressor”.
Other rightwing media start to run with the story, including the Daily Mail, which carries a comment piece by Stephen Glover under the headline “I’ve got news for the BBC bosses who think they’ll get away with fabricating a damaging Trump quote A HUGE STORM IS COMING”.
Thursday
The Daily Mail carries quotes from the Ofcom boss and former Tory life peer, Lord Grade, calling for an inquiry into BBC bias claims.
The Daily Telegraph’s coverage continues with a front page headline, “BBC’s transgender coverage ‘censored’ by its own reporters”, again citing Prescott’s memo, which claims the broadcaster has been “captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view” of transgender rights.
Friday
On Friday, former prime minister Boris Johnson enters the fray with comments published by the Daily Telegraph, again on its front page, calling on Davie to explain what happened or quit his role as director general. “Davie must explain or quit, says Johnson” the headline says.
The Daily Mail splashes on its front page with another story of alleged BBC bias under the headline “WHAT DOUBLE STANDARDS!”. It says the BBC was accused of double standards after rebuking a newsreader, Martine Croxall, who corrected ‘pregnant people’ to ‘women’ on air, while alleging the broadcaster’s bosses do not “seem” to care that Panorama doctored Trump’s speech.
Saturday
In his weekly column, Johnson writes: “Until BBC boss Tim Davie either comes clean on how Panorama doctored Trump’s speech – or resigns – I won’t be paying my licence fee”.
Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph devotes its front page to the story again, with the headline: “Trump goes to war on the BBC”. The article carries comments made by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who calls the corporation “100% fake news”, adding that British taxpayers are being “forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine”.
Sunday
The coverage continues to adorn the front pages of the Sunday Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, with the former carrying the story that the BBC is expected to apologise over the edited Trump speech, while the Mail on Sunday has the headline “BORIS’S BLAST AT ‘ARROGANT’ NICK ROBINSON FOR CLAIMING BIAS ROW IS AN ANTI-BBC PLOT”.
The Mail on Sunday article focuses on comments made by veteran BBC political journalist Nick Robinson, in which he said there were concerns about editorial standards at the BBC, but also that he fears there is a political campaign to “destroy” the corporation.
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, says she believes the issues around Panorama are “very serious” and also points to Prescott’s claims of “systemic bias in the way that difficult issues are reported at the BBC”. However, she says she has “complete confidence” that Shah and Davie are already treating the allegations seriously.
