“BBC, please repent… before it is too late,” implores Dan Barker

Dan Barker implores the BBC to ‘repent’ – to do a 180 degree about-turn: ditch the ideology and political correctness, address the bias, reconnect with the British public...

Whatever your view of the BBC, there is no doubt that it is facing more than just a crisis over funding.  

With 500,000 households a year cancelling their TV licence and an increasing number of Millennials, Generations Z and Alpha getting their news and entertainment from social media platforms like YouTube, TikToK , Netflix and the like, the BBC finds itself on a burning platform, albeit a slow burning one… but the flames are beginning to grow.

The BBC has always been a liberal organisation… a bit left of centre.  This was understood, acknowledged, accepted even. Historically, this has never been a major issue and there was tolerance within the organisation for a diversity of viewpoints and different political persuasions.  But those days are over: group think prevails and diversity of thought has long since left the building.

Sadly, like so many of our British institutions, the BBC has been captured by the prevailing left-wing Marxist ideologies.  This often expresses itself in the content being produced and the way that the BBC presents itself.  Nowadays, the cultural assumptions, language and worldview espoused by the BBC reflects a minority view held by the metropolitan liberal elites that dominate the makeup of the organisation at every level.  This I would argue, is the root cause of why the BBC is rightly so frequently accused of political and cultural bias.

Sadly, like so many of our British institutions, the BBC has been captured by the prevailing left-wing Marxist ideologies.

And it is this bias that is eroding public trust in the organisation.  Whole swathes of the population are literally ‘switching off’ because all of the news and much of the content that the BBC produces no longer reflects their views, their lives or where they live.  It should be of grave concern to the BBC that the sorts of people who are choosing not to pay their licence fee are not those dishonest types that don’t bother taxing or insuring their car or claim benefits when they could be working.  No, this is the silent majority: law-abiding, decent, hard-working people who are the back-bone of this nation.  Newsflash: this is not a group that the BBC can afford to alienate!

As someone now in middle life, I have grown up with the BBC.  It has shaped our national conscience, set the standards for drama, comedy, documentaries, political debate and analysis and wildlife filmmaking.  The BBC World Service has been a very successful form of soft power for Britain over the decades and is another example of our small plucky nation punching well above its weight in terms of our global reach and influence.

So I lament when I see what the BBC has become in the last 20 or so years.  Enslaved to meaningless diversity, political correctness, colour-blind casting and other wokery, when really what it should be focussing on is talent: people who can act and entertain.  Is the BBC in its current state even capable of producing comedy that can still capture the nation’s imagination?  For example, shows that are as much loved as say Only Fools and Horses, Porridge or more recently the Royle Family?  Would they even consider creating something now with white working class people at its heart?

Enslaved to meaningless diversity, political correctness, colour-blind casting and other wokery, when really what it should be focussing on is talent: people who can act and entertain. 

There must be people within the organisation that are able to see the peril they face?  People who are loyal, influential and can convince their colleagues that they are losing touch with the public they need to represent and that things desperately need to change.  So BBC, I implore you to ‘repent’ – to do a 180 degree about-turn: ditch the ideology and political correctness, address the bias, reconnect with the British public and start reflecting their hopes, aspirations, problems and daily lives on our screens and in our ears.

Various politicians on the right have threatened to end the BBC licence fee, effectively pulling the rug out from under the corporation.  This may well be the coup de grâce, but it will not be a swift death or a dramatic collapse, but a slow gradual demise, a withering on the vine, like a once grand stately home that has fallen into disrepair and decay.

For now, with Labour in office, I imagine that BBC Executives have good reason to feel optimistic that they will get a renewal of the royal charter in 2027 and a reasonable financial settlement to boot, particularly after the last 14 years of cuts and threats from various Conservative administrations.

But things can change pretty fast.  There was a time before there was a BBC and it is now very possible to conceive of a day when there may not be.  But I for one, would rather see a reformed BBC than no BBC at all.  So BBC, will you repent, please, before it is too late?

Dan Barker is a former Conservative Party member, Association Chair and PPC. Follow Dan Barker on Twitter / X here.

Photo: CC0 1.0