Why no news would be good news for the BBC

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/17/why-no-news-would-be-good-news-for-the-bbc

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Letters: Post-election attacks on the BBC have exposed its lack of political independence, suggests Professor Brian Winston. But Carole Tongue defends the corporation as a unifying force

It is not “toxic cynicism” alone that fuels attacks on the BBC (BBC news host warns ‘toxic cynicism’ over output risks undermining broadcaster’, 17 December). From that moment in 1926 when John Reith explained why the British Broadcast Company (which it then was) could not allow the unions to defend the General Strike on air because the government had it declared illegal, the BBC’s political independence has been compromised. It is this that has always undermined the broadcaster.

Now, as the magic of “London calling…” throughout the dark days of the second world war is finally losing force, the fragility of the BBC’s editorial integrity in the face of radicals like Dominic Cummings is being revealed. It is time to acknowledge that the corporation, as a publicly funded institution, is too beholden to the government for its money to be legitimately in the news business. It should let that go.

Its central role in the cultural life of the nation is too important to be threatened by the achilles heel of an information service so directly in the hands of bully-boy politicians who regard any deviations from their agendas as grounds for attack.Professor Brian WinstonUniversity of Lincoln

• Polly Toynbee’s warning (The BBC is back in the line of fire. Don’t let the Tories destroy it, 17 December) sends a chilling message to us all. The government seems to want to “move fast and break things”. This hardly fits with the PM’s wanting to unite us. One of the institutions that does its very best to do that is the BBC.

The BBC is our BBC. Its programmes are made for us, not for advertisers nor global audiences. It allows us to understand each other and be informed in a national conversation through locally made news, information, drama and documentary. Carole TongueFormer Labour MEP and spokesperson on public service broadcasting

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