Critisms of BBC

The BBC has long faced allegations of holding a left wing or liberal bias, many from right-of-centre organisations and pressure groups.[67] Similar allegations have been made by past and present employees such as Antony Jay,[68] former political editor Andrew Marr, North American editor Justin Webb,[69] former editor of the Today Programme, Rod Liddle[70] and former correspondent Robin Aitken.[71] By contrast left-wing figures such as the journalist John Pilger have frequently accused the BBC of a right-wing bias, a view supported by the left-wing website Media Lens. The anti-Iraq war MP George Galloway has referred to it as the "Bush and Blair Corporation".[72]

Criticism of the BBC's middle east coverage from both sides, including allegations of anti-Israeli bias, led the BBC to commission an investigation and report from a senior BBC editorial adviser Malcolm Balen, referred to as the Balen Report.[73] Attempts to force the BBC to release the report under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 were unsuccessful after the courts upheld the BBC's argument that the report fell outside of the Act's scope as it was conducted for journalistic purposes. This led to speculation that the report was damning, as well as to accusations of hypocrisy as the BBC frequently made use itself of Freedom of Information Act requests when researching news stories.[74] The BBC did make public the findings of an "independent panel report" written in 2006, that said that while there was "no deliberate or systematic bias" in the BBC's reporting of the middle east, their coverage had been "inconsistent," "not always providing a complete picture" and "misleading".[74] It suggested that in fact BBC coverage implicitly favoured the Israeli side. [75] Former BBC middle east correspondent Tim Llewellyn wrote in 2004 that the BBC's coverage allowed an Israeli view of the conflict to dominate, as demonstrated by research conducted by the Glasgow Media Group. [76]

The BBC has received criticism in recent times over its coverage of the events leading up to the war in Iraq.[77] The controversy over what it described as the "sexing up" of the case for war in Iraq by the government, led to the BBC being heavily criticised by the Hutton Inquiry,[78] although this finding was much disputed by the British press.[79]

In August 2007 Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price highlighted what he perceived as a lack of a Welsh focus on BBC news broadcasts.[80] Price threatened to withhold future television licence fees in response to a lack of thorough news coverage of Wales, echoing a BBC Audience Council for Wales July report citing public frustration over how the Welsh Assembly is characterised in national media.[81] Plaid AM Bethan Jenkins agreed with Price and called for responsibility for broadcasting to be devolved to the Welsh Assembly, voicing similar calls from Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond.[80] Criticism of the BBC's news coverage for Wales and Scotland since devolution prompted debate of possibly providing evening news broadcasts with specific focus for both countries.[80]

The BBC has attracted criticism for the large salaries paid to some of its employees such as Jonathan Ross whose BBC contract is worth £4.5 millions annually.[82] A recent report into the salaries of such BBC employees by the BBC Trust concluded that the BBC was not paying more than the market price for leading TV talent.[83]

The licence fee has also attracted criticism. It has been argued that in an age of multi stream, multi-channel availability, an obligation to pay a licence fee is no longer appropriate. The BBC's use of private sector company Capita Group to send letters to premises not paying the licence fee has been criticised, especially as there have been cases where such letters have been sent to premises which are up to date with their payments, or do not require a TV licence.[84] The BBC uses an advertising campaign to inform customers of the requirement to pay the licence fee. These letters and adverts have been criticised by MPs such as Boris Johnson and Ann Widdecombe, for having a threatening nature and language used to scare evaders into paying.[85][86] Audio clips and television broadcasts are used to inform listeners of the BBC's comprehensive database.[87] There are a number of pressure groups campaigning on the issue of the licence fee.[88]