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Monday 25 June 2012
Leading article: Not the way to preserve BBC independence
It was bad enough when Boris Johnson suggested – apparently in all seriousness – that the new boss of the staunchly apolitical BBC should be a Tory. Evidence that journalists working for the corporation's Global News arm are being directed to think up money-making schemes is more alarming still.
True, a squeeze on the licence fee has slashed the BBC's budget by a fifth. And the Global News division is a private company that exists specifically to further the corporation's commercial interests. Moreover, the BBC denies that the plan will compromise its values.
But the corporation is already under investigation by Ofcom over commercial influence on some World News programmes. And pressure on staff, through the appraisal system no less, can hardly not have an effect. For an organisation prized, above all, for its independence, it would be difficult to set a more wrong-headed course.
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Austerity has hardened the nation's heart
Yasmin Alibhai Brown -
Voices in Danger: In Pakistan, state brutality makes journalism a dangerous business
Voices in Danger -
The chasm that could swallow Cameron alive
Donald Macintyre -
The Daily Cartoon
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The moral case on tax avoidance is overwhelming - and we all know Google wants to do the right thing
Owen Jones
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Letters: Of course big business loves the EU
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The so-called 'Robin Hood Tax' will rob pensioners and small businesses not just bankers
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Ed Miliband is staring at an open goal and I know just the pair of strikers to win it for him
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Internet porn is no kind of education, but LOLcats and Tumblr (almost) make up for it
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Never fall ill at a weekend - our out-of-hours health service is a disgrace
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Poll: Does the fact that Boris Johnson has a love child change your opinion of the Mayor?
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