Diane Abbott may have been treated unfairly on Question Time, but accusing the BBC of bias is a step too far

By calling into question the motives of impartial, independent outlets, critics empower alternative ‘news’ media that wear prejudice as a badge of honour

It has become so fashionable to bash the BBC for alleged bias that there is barely a prejudice it has not been accused of displaying: anti-left, anti-right; pro-Brexit, pro-EU; liberal, conservative; right-on, old-hat.

Such, perhaps, is the position of the Beeb at the heart of British cultural life that its news arm ends up as a proxy opponent for all sides in any given political debate.

This weekend, the corporation found itself at the centre of a new row after the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, wrote in The Independent about her “horrible experience” on the BBC’s Question Time programme.

Abbott raised some reasonable points. For instance, her contention that Labour and the Conservatives were “level pegging” was wrongly characterised as inaccurate by host Fiona Bruce. In fact, some recent polls indicated just that – the BBC subsequently apologised for not making things clear.

Likewise, it does not redound to the BBC’s credit that Abbott was interrupted twice as often during the programme as any other panellist. That said, there will be different interpretations as to why that might have been so.

For Abbott, her “unfair” treatment was indicative of a broader agenda at the BBC, which she said needed to change. “It needs”, she said of the broadcaster, “to stop treating Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow ministers as if we are not legitimate political actors and try giving us the respect that they automatically give to Tory ministers”.

This is not a new criticism. Indeed, back in the summer of 2016, researchers at the Media Reform Coalition concluded that the BBC’s main evening news reports gave twice as much unchallenged airtime to people critical of the Labour leader than to his allies.

Yet such is the nature of journalism that many measures of “bias” are themselves either reflective of a particular viewpoint or based on the kind of statistical analysis that obviates the trade’s primary purpose, which is hold the powerful to account.

There have been occasions when the BBC has sought to respond to criticism of an alleged lack of balance by giving equal time to opposing views – even when one of the positions being espoused plainly had less credibility than the other.

This is less journalism, more show and tell, with the BBC in the role of unquestioning teacher, giving little Johnny the chance to explain to the class why climate change is a load of old bunkum invented by a shadowy capitalist cabal.

Is the BBC beyond criticism? Obviously not; nor is any media outlet. For as long as journalism is done by people, things will go wrong. Diane Abbott may have been treated unfairly on Question Time, as might figures on the right of the political spectrum on other occasions. But they are the exceptions.

What’s more, at a period of enormous polarisation in British (and global) politics, we should not forget that politicians of all stripes stand to gain from presenting major media outlets as discriminating against their position.

Donald Trump’s White House run would quite possibly not have been successful had he not gained such traction with his claims about the “fake news media”.

Jeremy Corbyn has tried the same trick, literally borrowing from Trump’s phrase book. But he’s hardly alone. The Conservative Party has regularly contended that the BBC has a liberal bent that means Labour gets an easier ride.

After last November’s Budget, the prime minister’s office described the BBC’s evening news coverage as “the most biased bulletin in history”.

By the terms of its charter and by the terms of its editorial standards, the BBC is required to uphold impartiality in its news coverage. Ofcom, the media regulator, has been responsible for assessing and reporting on the BBC’s compliance with its regulatory obligations since 2017.

While it plans to undertake a specific review of the Beeb’s news provision this year, its annual report last October concluded that “in many respects the BBC is performing well in this area” and was highly trusted by its viewers.

Certainly there has been no hint from Ofcom that there is some sort of entrenched prejudice at the corporation that means the public are being deliberately swayed into thinking that either Corbyn or Theresa May, or anyone else for that matter, is the devil incarnate. The reason for that absence? There is no underlying bias to find. The BBC is not a British equivalent of RT, nor of Fox News.

That isn’t to say this claim won’t continue to be made – by politicians from all sides. It’s easy, it’s effective and it undermines legitimate journalistic efforts to hold truth to power.

But by calling into question the motives of impartial, independent outlets, critics empower alternative “news” media that wear prejudice as a badge of honour.

This way lies bad journalism, trite Twitter barrages by celeb news anchors and propaganda.

Over that lot, I’ll take the BBC every time.