BBC bias: now why do you suppose that is?

Dougal Paver

The BBC is biased. There, I've said it. But then, so have they.

Far too many Guardian-reading liberal types, according to one of its most popular journalists. Quite an admission.

It comes as no surprise to those in the shooting fraternity. Urban liberals just don't get the countryside, after all. But such is the flagrancy of BBC bias these days that the men in tweed have had enough.

The country sports press, as well as lobby groups such as BASC, are fighting an effective campaign to expose the BBC's biased reporting and hold it to account.

Article by article is analysed with forensic precision and held up to the Beeb like a mirror. And, as a communications advisor, I have to say that in most cases the BBC's defence is lame.

There seems to be a sort of care-worn arrogance. "Look, Bumpkin, we're not that bothered." All well and good if you weren't reliant on public goodwill and a statutory raid on people's earnings for your survival.

Put another way, Aunty can go on not giving a fig for minority interests, but they all add up. And when the tally starts with 1 million hunters and 4 million anglers - fellow travellers, remember - then it shouldn't be long before they are in trouble.

Any wonder that 'BBC bias' has become something of an industry? Just type the phrase in to google and see what you find.

In communication terms, of course, this is a real challenge. The Beeb's Jeremy Paxman noted recently that "the idea of a tax on the ownership of a television belongs in the 1950s. Why not tax people for owning a washing machine to fund the manufacture of Persil?"

Privatisation, anyone?

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