Scrap this unfair licence fee (From The Northern Echo)

Scrap this unfair licence fee

9:12am Tuesday 17th July 2007 in Peter Mullen

Why did the BBC so blatantly misrepresent the Queen by pretending to show her in a tantrum after a supposed dispute with a celebrity photographer - a dispute, we discover, which never actually took place? And why has the Controller of BBC1 responsible for this deception not been sacked? There was only a belated and measly apology and an astonishing comment from the controller himself who said: "Our trailer about the Queen was only shown to journalists".

The controller knew and intended that the journalists would tell the story of the Queen's supposed tantrum far and wide and so publicise his lying trailer. Besides, does the controller think that to tell a lie to a few people is a less serious offence than to tell a lie to many?

The BBC, so far from being the paragon of impartiality it boasts itself to be, is a biased, corrupt and self-serving institution and its prejudices are aired daily. Everybody knows this, so why does the BBC continue to deny its bias? Simple: because it depends upon a reputation for impartiality in order to secure the licence fee. Listen to what leading international commentators, and even BBC insiders, say about this.

Take the BBC's Middle East reporting for example. Frank Stewart, of the left-wing New York Times, says: "The BBC's Arabic Service not only shields Arab leaders from criticism but also tends to avoid topics they might find embarrassing: human rights, the role of military and security forces, corruption, discrimination against minorities, censorship, poverty and unemployment. When, from time to time, such topics do arise, they are usually dealt with in the most general terms: there may, for instance, be guarded references to 'certain Arab countries'."

Or its bias towards the EU. Jonathon Chapman, a senior BBC World News reporter, says: "The UK media is broadly sceptical about the EU so we try in Brussels to break that cycle of scepticism. The BBC's job is to reflect the European perspective... and make news less sceptical. That is why the BBC has such a big bureau in Brussels."

If you have a TV set, but you never watch BBC, you still have to pay the licence tax or they'll threaten to come round and lock you up. Gerald Warner, of Scotland on Sunday, comments very amusingly on these threats and extortions:

"Imagine if you wanted to shop at Harvey Nichols, but you had to go to Jenners first and pay them £135 for a permit to enter their competitor's premises. By what right does the BBC act as gatekeeper to all 196 other television channels? That is an infringement of Article 10 of the European Convention, guaranteeing free access to information across frontiers."

Or listen to Andrew Marr, former BBC Westminster correspondent: "The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias."

It's all right for a newspaper to be biased. I don't have to buy it. Or for a commercial TV station to be biased. I don't have to watch it. But why should we have to pay a tax to support BBC prejudice? Scrap the licence today.