The BBC’s chief political adviser has said that its reporting on the forthcoming EU referendum will not be compromised by ongoing discussions about its future shape and funding.
Ric Bailey, the BBC’s chief political adviser, told the Guardian: “The BBC’s global reputation for impartiality is not going to be compromised and how it covers the referendum doesn’t have any connection with how it’s funded for the future.”
Culture secretary John Whittingdale is one of the six cabinet ministers to join those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU, while his department is currently working on a white paper renewing the BBC charter. The paper, expected this spring, may be delayed by the fact the May local elections are followed by the referendum on the EU on 23 June.
Asked whether the timing of charter renewal added even more pressure on the BBC, Bailey said: “If you know anything about the BBC’s independence you know that it’s not even a question. ... It doesn’t arise.”
Bailey, who led the BBC’s negotiations in setting up the first televised election debates in 2010, recognised that the forthcoming EU referendum is “likely to be” the biggest test for the BBC’s impartiality.
However, he added that all such polls were sensitive. “People underestimate the challenge of any referendum, not just about Europe. There tends to be great passions on both sides, no middle ground. Because they see the BBC and its role as so crucial, people go to the BBC for impartiality so they put huge amounts of pressure on.”
The BBC came in for strong criticism during the Scottish referendum in 2014 but Bailey, who has advised on political impartiality at the BBC for 10 years, said this is par for the course because of the BBC’s importance to the national debate. “We have to help all those people who come to the BBC for thorough explanation on very complicated issues.”
Bailey said the “starting point has to be good editorial judgment – you can’t make judgments on impartiality purely on mathematical formula.”
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