Industry | 2009.10.07
Bradshaw accuses BBC of 'fawning' Osborne interview
The culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, today criticised the BBC\'s news coverage, accusing Radio 4\'s Today programme of conducting a "feeble and biased" interview with shadow chancellor George Osborne.
Bradshaw\'s attack came as the BBC unveiled plans to apply tougher rules on bad language either side of the 9pm watershed on TV and place the news website under the strict editorial guidelines already governing news bulletins.
Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, used Twitter to criticise Today, posting shortly after presenter Evan Davis spoke to Osborne about Tory spending plans: "Another [sic] wholly feeble and biased Today programme rounded off with a fawning interview with a Tory pundit!!"
The BBC defended its coverage as robust and rigorous. A spokesman said: "Suggesting your political opponents are somehow getting an easier ride from broadcasters is something that has always been part of politics."
The shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, accused Bradshaw of interfering in the BBC\'s day-to-day coverage: "He seems to be aspiring to Alastair Campbell\'s role rather than that of a culture secretary."
The culture secretary has had a fractious relationship with BBC bosses since joining the cabinet this year. Although he defended the corporation at the Labour party conference in Brighton last week, he has criticised director-general Mark Thompson\'s leadership.
Bradsaw described a Today interview with Michael Gove, the Tory spokesman on children, schools and families, as "feeble" in a Twitter post on Monday.
A spokesman for Bradshaw said: "People should listen to the content and tone of the interviews this week with [Michael] Gove, [David] Cameron and Osborne, compare them with those of last week and make their own judgment."
Separately, the BBC Trust has overhauled editorial guidelines after a string of scandals.
"Our audiences should not be able to tell from BBC programmes or other BBC output the personal prejudices of our journalists and presenters on such matters," the draft said. "This applies as much to online content as it does to news bulletins. Nothing should be written by journalists and presenters that would not be said off air." It has been dubbed a "Jeremy Bowen clause" after the Middle East editor was censured by the trust in April for his phrasing in a potted history of postwar Israel on the BBC website.
The draft says bad language should not automatically be permitted after 9pm, when many children are still watching or listening. "It may be necessary to edit or bleep language, even post-watershed."
Audience research found that licence fee payers "accept that strong language can be appropriate within a programme but dislike it when used unnecessarily or excessively". The research revealed public concern at "inappropriate intimidation and humiliation" on TV and radio, after the controversy Two of the BBC\'s most popular broadcasters, Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left abusive messages on actor Andrew Sachs\' answerphone during a Radio 2 programme. Brand and Lesley Douglas, the station\'s controller, resigned, while Ross was suspended.
The draft editorial guidelines, which will be put out to public consultation, state: "Some comedy can be cruel but unduly intimidatory, humiliating, intrusive, aggressive or derogatory remarks must not be celebrated for the purposes of entertainment. Care should be taken that such comments and the tone in which they are delivered are proportionate to their target."
Ross has also been criticised for several interviews on his Friday night chat show. He asked Conservative leader David Cameron if he hadschoolboy sexual fantasies about Margaret Thatcher and told the actor Gwyneth Paltrow he "would fuck her"BBC editorial guidelines are reviewed once every five years. "Public acceptability is constantly changing, so it is right that we should reflect on the standards the BBC should be setting, as well as ask licence fee payers what they think when reviewing the guidelines," said Richard Tait, a BBC trustee and chair of the trust\'s editorial standards committee.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/07/today-bbc-ben-bradshaw-radio4
