#1 Unbiased, the BBC, Surely Not?

It’s one of those topics guaranteed to ignite a passionate debate, usually somewhere between the second pint and the crisps down the pub, or while stabbing at a soggy lasagne in the work canteen. But forgive me for saying this: unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years or so (and fair play if you have, rent’s probably cheaper), I genuinely struggle to see how anyone could still claim it’s unbiased in its news and current affairs reporting. In fact, I’d argue it now leans so far to the left it’s in serious danger of toppling over altogether and requiring a warning sign.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those professional BBC bashers who slap the entire corporation with the same tired brush. The BBC has made, and continues to make, outstanding documentaries and some truly excellent period dramas. My issue isn’t with those. No, my beef lies squarely with the news and current affairs wing of the operation. Recent highlights include the creatively edited Donald Trump clip, the Israel–Gaza coverage, the Glastonbury broadcast, and the conveniently leaked Prescott report into transgender issues, All of which, somehow, managed to raise plenty of eyebrows without raising even a whisper of accountability. And in my opinion, it’s exactly that complete absence of consequences that’s led us here, to the point where they don’t even bother pretending anymore. The subtlety has gone, the fig leaf has been dropped, and the corporation now appears so thoroughly riddled with left-wing groupthink that hiding it would require effort… and effort, clearly, is no longer on the agenda.

So, how did it get to this? let's start by winding the clock back 20 or 25 years, to around the turn of the century (which, incidentally, still feels far too recent to be described like ancient history). Back then, most of us relied on what we now nostalgically refer to as the “mainstream media” — the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, and a few others if you were feeling adventurous.

Remarkably, and this may come as a shock to anyone under 30, they all more or less told the same side of the same story, and were, by today’s standards, relatively unbiased. Yes, we knew the BBC leaned a bit to the left, but it was subtle. Tasteful, even. The sort of thing you might notice only after squinting slightly and thinking, “Hmm, interesting choice of wording.”

It didn’t shout it. It didn’t wave a flag. And it certainly didn’t feel the need to lecture you while doing it.

Right. Back to the question, because obviously this all happened by accident. So how did we get here? Well, grab a time machine and head back to the late 1970s, when the hard-left Democrats in the United States collectively had an epiphany. Turns out, marching straight into power waving Marx and promising a socialist paradise wasn’t exactly polling well. Even when done surupticiously slowly by the back door it failed. Who knew?

Then came the lightbulb moment: Ah. Power first, ideology later. And what better ally than a small, obscure institution known as the entire education system?

They realised that if a socialist utopia was ever going to bloom, it wouldn’t happen overnight. No, this was a long game. A generational project. The people didn’t need convincing, they needed teaching. Preferably starting around nap time.

And thus, the Liberal Progressive movement was born (now there's an oxymoron if ever read one) Not with one goal, mind you, just one tiny mission: to gently, subtly, and totally-not-at-all-obviously weave socialist ideology into everything from play school finger painting to tenured professors lecturing in ivy covered halls. ABCs, algebra, advanced theory, all sprinkled with a healthy dose of “approved thinking.”

Indoctrination? Of course not. That would be far too obvious. This was education. Totally different.

Those indoctrinated kids from the 70's took their new found social belief system and ran with it. Suffice to say those with ideological foresight amongst them went on to became the teachers and professors of the next generation of young susseptable minds and you can now see the fruits of their labour (no pun intended) on virtually every college and university campus across the United States.

Now hit the fast-forward button about 15 years to the late ’80s and early ’90s in the UK, where, to coin a phrase from Cilla Black, surprise, surprise!, the very same “experiment” was relaunched with all the enthusiasm of a badly thought-out sequel. Enter the poor, young, unsuspecting pioneers of socialist groupthink, who dutifully absorbed the doctrine with the same enthusiasm as did their cousins across the pond several years earlier, with some having since risen through the ranks to run news and current affairs at the BBC and other mainstream media temples.

And thus, entirely by accident of course, the BBC has evolved into a perfectly calibrated megaphone for the harder edges of the Labour Party, because nothing says balanced broadcasting like decades of ideological muscle memory quietly steering the ship.

Disgruntled from Essex