Leducate Explains: BBC Impartiality
Hint - key terms are defined. Just click on the blue words to see their definitions!
The BBC Charter, which outlines the BBC’s mission and object, states that the BBC’s purpose is, ‘to provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them’.
The BBC describes itself as ‘impartial and independent’, and Ofcom, (the regulator for all TV channels in the UK), also requires the BBC to achieve ‘due impartiality in all its output’. In this article, we will aim to explain what impartiality is, and why it is so important.
What is ‘due impartiality’?
According to BBC guidelines, the broadcaster has a responsibility to do all it can to, ‘ensure that controversial subjects are treated with due impartiality’. The BBC adds that, ‘it goes further than that; applying due impartiality to all subjects’. This means that the BBC’s coverage of a wide range of topics must be unbiased, objective, and not favouring one side more than the other.
The official guidelines can be found in more detail here: Editorial Guidelines - Section 4: Impartiality - Guidelines
Controversy
Despite the BBC’s rules on impartiality, only 37% of British adults actually thought the BBC was impartial in a 2018 poll.1 The survey found that people ranked both ITV and Channel 4 above the BBC in regard to the channel’s impartiality. People think that the BBC favours one political view over the other, and it is both people from the left and right of British politics who perceive this.
In their 2018 annual report on the BBC, Ofcom highlighted some main conclusions about the BBC’s ability to be impartial:2
The BBC operates in a complex and demanding news landscape. Because we now have quick and easy access to a wide variety of news sources and news via social media, it is easy to notice when one source doesn’t cover a particular story.
Content signals are used as short-cuts to judge due impartiality in the moment. The concept of ‘due impartiality’ does not have a specific indicator, rather, it is a collection of attributes to measure, including ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ signals. For example, a hard signal might be where we can see an obvious avoidance of a topic, whereas a soft signal might be where we intuitively sense the tone or demeanour of an individual.
Audiences value BBC output but hold them to a higher standard than other channels. Because of its public ownership, the BBC is expected to reflect or consider the opinions of the country as a whole, and when a broadcast does not meet certain expectations, individuals can feel ‘let down’.
For example, the decision to exclude ‘Rule, Britannia!’ From The Proms, led to Conservative members of the public to perceive the BBC to be in favour of left-wing interests.3
Coverage of Brexit on the BBC was also heavily criticised from the left and right of British politics. The regulator, Ofcom, released a report that stated the public’s ‘dissatisfaction with the BBC’s coverage of Brexit’.4
Breaking impartiality rules
Although the examples above are only criticisms of the BBC, there have been other times when the broadcaster has actually broken their own Impartiality rules.
The BBC admitted that it had broken impartiality rules when broadcasting an interview with Russell T Davies at the Bafta TV Awards, where he criticised the Government’s plan to sell off Channel 4 and replace the BBC licence fee. As his criticism was not balanced by any reflection of Government policy during the coverage, it was found to be in breach of the BBC’s requirement to be impartial on politically controversial subjects.5
The BBC also broke impartiality rules on ‘The World at One’ (BBC Radio 4), in February 2021, in relation to a bulletin discussing the dispute between the Scottish Government and former First Minister, Alex Salmond, over harassment allegations made against him. The BBC received a complaint about the programme, which led to an investigation being carried out by Ofcom. After investigating the complaint, it was found that the BBC had broken impartiality rules.
(Although the BBC does sometimes break its own rules, this is in the minority of instances)
Investigation procedure
The BBC has been told to make its complaints procedure simpler and clearer by Ofcom, because people ‘don’t have sufficient confidence in it’. This builds on the public concern that the BBC isn’t truly impartial. This has resulted in the BBC publishing a 10-point plan in October 2022 to improve impartiality. The current complaints procedure is very lengthy, and 54% of people have a bad experience when reporting a complaint, according to Ofcom.6
Although Ofcom handles complaints about commercial broadcasters, such as ITV and Channel 4, they only deal with complaints about the BBC in certain circumstances - for example when someone is not satisfied with the outcome of the BBC process.
Why we need an impartial BBC
During times of crisis, millions rely on a reliable source of news. For many, this is the BBC. On 24 February when Russian forces invaded Ukraine, 23 million people tuned into the BBC to get information on the conflict. 200 million people also visited the News website in the last week of February.
It is the BBC’s public service remit and its funding model, as well as its size and multi-platform reach, that enables the broadcaster to respond so quickly and efficiently to global crises. Its plethora of services across TV and radio, both at a national and local level, mean that the BBC’s output can be accessed globally.
The BBC generally has a trusted reputation around the globe too. In the first week of the conflict, the audience of the BBC’s Russian language news site increased from 3.1 million to 10.7 million, demonstrating how, in a country dominated by state-owned channels broadcasting regime propaganda, the BBC is turned to as a trusted source of impartial news.
This commitment to ensuring people always have access to news that matters echoes what we saw throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, when the BBC’s local and national presence provided essential public health updates during an unparalleled and unprecedented global crisis.
84% of adults relied on the BBC for updates every day, and 34.6 million tuned in each week to Radio live programming, with hyper-local radio stations such as BBC Burnley and BBC Wolverhampton being set up to provide extra local content and interactivity. BBC output kept people across the country connected.
Today, it is easier than ever to share information - including false information. Hence why it is important that we have a service like the BBC to provide impartial and trusted news.
Written by Tom Ducille
Glossary box
Due impartiality: Often defined as finding the ‘balance’ between differing viewpoints. Specifically for the BBC and other broadcasters, there must be equal weighting given to events, opinions and the main points of argument. The ‘due’ aspect means that impartiality must be adequate, and take account of the nature and subject of content, as well as the likely audience expectation.
‘Hard’ and ‘soft’ signals: Hard signals of impartiality may be an obvious avoidance of a topic, whereas soft signals might include presenter demeanour or tone.
Ofcom: (The Office of Communications), Ofcom is the regulator for all TV channels in the UK.