The BBC Has an Institutional Culture of Brexit Self-Censorship Byline Times – Byline Times
Former BBC producer Patrick Howse explores why the broadcaster is unwilling to speak truth to power over Brexit
A recent exchange on BBC Question Time told us a lot about the current state of the country, and the BBCs reporting of it. Supply chain problems resulting from a lack of lorry drivers was the issue being discussed. As the vast majority of people acknowledge, Brexit has undoubtedly played a role in this crisis.
A man in the audience told presenter Fiona Bruce that there was a bit of an irony in the current situation because, in his opinion, a lot of people voted Brexit because they didnt want foreign workers coming over here and taking their jobs. And now thats exactly what weve got weve got a lack of foreign workers, which is why weve got these shortages.
Bruce snapped back that she wanted to hear from someone who voted for Brexit, only to be told by the man in the audience: actually, I did.
Bruces clear irritation was accompanied by an almost throw-away remark with which she moved on the discussion. A majority of people here voted for Brexit, we select this audience very carefully to be representative.
I found this remarkable even though Ive had serious concerns about Question Time and its sister Radio 4 programme Any Questions for a long time. It raises two big questions: how do these programmes determine whether someone is pro-Brexit, and why do they feel its so important to ensure their audiences are stacked in this way?
The BBCs press office confirmed to me that the evaluation is based on referendum and election results. They did not elaborate on which elections they mean, nor how a Labour vote for example is interpreted: was a vote for Labour in 2019 pro- or anti-Brexit?
All of which suggests that the BBC is basing its calculations on the 2016 referendum. Ergo, the BBC has taken a decision that the people of the UK irrevocably made up their minds in 2016, voted Leave, and ended the debate. More than five years later, theres no room in a Question Time audience for anyone who has come to understand the reality of the project and has thus changed their mind.
Fiona Bruces clear exasperation at the audience member is telling. The BBC is frightened. It fears the wrath of the Government, but it is also terrified of Leave voters, and wants to avoid at any cost appearing to say that they got it wrong.
I have previously written for Byline Times about a feeling among some former colleagues that there was something approaching a BBC policy not to run stories that might undermine public trust in Boris Johnson.
Its likely that key people in the BBC have decided that Brexit must be respected, and that its not the BBCs job to take a view on it particularly if that means portraying the project in a negative way. Both the chairman and the director general are known to have been Conservative supporters, after all, with the former having donated more than 400,000 to the party.
Anyone who has worked at the BBC will confirm that the corporation is not cohesive. It is a diverse, loose coalition of hostile fiefdoms and mini empires. Even within news, there are competing factions: newsgathering against programmes against the World Service; radio against TV against online, and dozens of further, mind-boggling sub-divisions.
Former colleagues of mine tend to blame other departments for the reluctance to tackle Brexit-related issues. For example, one household name told me, its all coming from Millbank, a reference to the BBCs offices in Westminster a view that appears to be quite widely shared in the New Broadcasting House newsroom.
Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and support quality, investigative reporting.
Its clear, though, that the 2016 referendum took the BBC into anxious territory. I had left the BBC by this time, but friends tell me that the result shook the corporation. The result was taken to be an unambiguous statement of disillusionment from a large group of voters against the establishment. The BBC didnt understand this group, and feared that it wasnt addressing or serving it.
Since then, the BBC has desperately sought to represent these voices on air and crucially to not offend them. The net result has been fear-driven self-censorship at every level. This is not just a desire to appease the BBCs Government critics, but to placate Leave voters as well.
This has been felt across the BBCs output. Theres a clear reluctance to mention the B-word at all. That is unlikely to change any time soon because the BBC does not feel as though its job involves holding the Government to account over Brexit.
In normal times, with a government presiding over such a mess, you would expect Britains newspapers to be scenting blood. The BBC would be following in their slipstream, always taking care not to find itself at the head of the pack.
But we are not in normal times. The right-wing press is complicit, compliant, and silent on the grave problems looming ahead. Labour has shown that it doesnt really want to talk about Brexit. And at every level within the BBC, theres an institutional reluctance to fill the gap; to inform and educate the nation about the consequences of Brexit.
Aside from harming the country, this poses a danger to the BBC. When this all plays out, and the disastrous impacts of Brexit become clear as they are beginning to will the people of Britain feel they were well served by our public service broadcaster?
At the moment, the answer is an emphatic no.
Byline Times is funded by its subscribers. Receive our monthly print edition and help to support fearless, independent journalism.
New to Byline Times? Find out more about us
A new type of newspaper independent, fearless, outside the system. Fund a better media.
Dont miss a story
Our leading investigations include Brexit, Empire & the culture war, Russian interference, Coronavirus, cronyism and far right radicalisation. We also introduce new voices of colour in Our Lives Matter.
Follow this link:
The BBC Has an Institutional Culture of Brexit Self-Censorship Byline Times - Byline Times
- Sharyn Rothstein looks at censorship through the eyes of a badass librarian - DC Theater Arts - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- The dangers of censorship: The harm of book banning - Collegiate Times - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Can Controversy and Censorship Ever Be Good for Artists and Their Art? - observer.com - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Why is X suing the Indian govt over censorship? Musks heft within US administration could play a part - The Straits Times - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Explained: What is the Sahyog Portal that X has called out for censorship? - MediaNama - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Censorship and the question of artistic freedom - Times of India - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Art Censorship: Between Restriction and Sharpening Idea of Freedom of Expression - Universitas Gadjah Mada - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Mass surveillance and censorship/ What is DPI, intended for use by the government? - cna.al - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- The Freckled Face of Censorship or How Book Bans Are Restricting Our Freedoms - U.S. News & World Report - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Spice Girls latest victims of woke censorship as iconic '90s song has 'offensive' lyric removed by BBC and other stations - GB News - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- MEDIA ADVISORY: HFAC Subcommittee Hearing on the Censorship-Industrial Complex - House Foreign Affairs Committee - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Durbin Questions Witnesses In Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing On Censorship - RiverBender.com - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Hawley Exposes Big Tech as Willing Collaborators in Censorship: They Own It - Josh Hawley - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Scientists Respond to FTC Inquiry into Tech Censorship - R Street - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Venice Title Pooja, Sir: Rajagunj Released in Nepal After Extensive Censorship Battle: An Attack on the Fundamental Right to Freedom of Speech... - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- 'Assault on the 1st Amendment': Expert buries Trumps 'censorship' argument in 60 seconds - AlterNet - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Billboard Chris fined, threatened with arrest in Brisbane days ahead of ultimate court challenge against government online censorship - ADF... - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Exclusive - Laughter Chefs 2's Rahul Vaidya on current scenario of comedy in India and Samay Raina; says - The Times of India - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Banned books of Alabama. These 25 face censorship in local libraries throughout AL - Montgomery Advertiser - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Beauty and the Beast: New book sparks censorship row in France - BBC.com - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Opinion: The day free speech began to retreat - The Globe and Mail - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- CT library meeting on censoring LGBTQ+ content canceled after large crowd shows up - Hartford Courant - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Local leaders in Suffield accused of censorship following proposed library policy - Eyewitness News 3 - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- USAID Coordinated With Censorship Agency, Documents Show - Daily Signal - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- The EU wants to censor the global internet - Spiked - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Federal Governments Growing Banned Words List Is Chilling Act of Censorship - PEN America - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- United States of Censorship - Marist College The Circle - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- America First Legal Exposes Censorship Scheme by USAID and Global Engagement Center, Working With UK Government and Media Firms, to Use AI Censorship... - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Liberal Documentarians Panic as Industry Goes Trump-Friendly, but Conservatives Say Theyre Getting a Taste of Censorship and Its Satisfying - Variety - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- OPINION | Censoring 'No Other Land' won't make the issue go away - The Jewish News of Northern California - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Miami Beach mayors censorship of No Other Land is yet another authoritarian move to shield Israel - Mondoweiss - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Elon Musks X sues union government over alleged censorship and IT Act violations - The Hindu - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Cartoonist accuses French Education Ministry of censorship for canceling his 'Beauty and the Beast' - Le Monde - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- What are anti-censorship features and how is Proton VPN leading the way? - Tom's Guide - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Local opinion: Banning bones and books - Arizona Daily Star - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Coalition led by PEN Florida lobbies in Tallahassee to undo the harms of censorship - PEN America - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Beauty and the Beast comic book cancelled in France's 'worst ever censorship case' as 'inappropriate' Belle depicted as dark-skinned Mediterranean... - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Former Meta director says Mark Zuckerberg worked hand in glove with Beijing to build a censorship tool - Fortune - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- RI Voices: Censorship harms those we should be trying to protect - The Boston Globe - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Opinion | Think Twice Before Using These Words - The New York Times - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- World Day Against Cyber Censorship: RSF Collateral Freedom project restores access to BBC News in countries where it is blocked - Reporters sans... - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- FCC To Investigate Alleged Faith-Based Discrimination at YouTube TV as It Ramps Up War on the Censorship Cartel - The New York Sun - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- DW defies censorship with innovative solutions - DW - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Florida Coalition to Speak Out March 11 in Support of Freedom to Learn Act to Reverse Harmful Censorship in Public Schools - PEN America - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Mark Zuckerberg Offered China Full Censorship Control And User Data Access, Says Meta Whistleblower: 'Working Hand In Glove With The Chinese Communist... - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Censorship at heart of FST's 'Bad Books' - Yoursun.com - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Interview: Tackling Censorship and Artistic Freedom - Everything Theatre - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Censorship and Australias Venice Biennale pavilion, a controversial AI auction, and Elizabeth Catlett in Washingtonpodcast - Art Newspaper - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Trumps censorship Czar orders NPR and PBS investigation - MR Online - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Meta Is All About Free SpeechExcept They Built a Censorship Tool for China - VICE - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Huntington Beach residents will vote on book censorship, library control in June - LAist - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Trump Calls On Congress To Pass The Take It Down ActSo He Can Censor His Critics - EFF - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Turning the Page on Literary Censorship in the US - SUNY The New Paltz Oracle - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Escalating violent conflict in eastern DRC: journalists and HRDs targeted; censorship and internet cuts - Civicus - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- This World Book Day, lets fight for the freedom to read - Index on Censorship - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- RI 'Freedom to Read' bill would protect librarians from censorship prosecution. What to know. - The Providence Journal - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- NCAC Expressed Deep Concern Over DOEs Recent Dear Colleague Letter on Race and Teaching Practices - Blogging Censorship - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- The ACLU of Delaware urging colleges across the state to reject Trumps censorship policy - WMDT - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- French University to Fund American Scientists Who Fear Trump Censorship - 404 Media - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- How nationwide book banning, censorship are impacting students and libraries across the country - The Panther Newspaper - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Increased TikTok Censorship Under the Trump Administration? - The Pioneer - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Ormond Beach citizens push back against 'censorship' of mayor, commissioners work to put issue to rest - Palm Coast Observer and Ormond Beach Observer - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Journalisms Resistance: Reporting Beyond Censorship - Word In Black - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Solo Leveling's Censorship Is Quickly Becoming a Massive Problem for the Anime - CBR - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Jim Jordan Demands Alphabet Hand Over Docs Citing Evidence That Youtube 'Coerced And Colluded' With Biden Admin - LatinTimes - March 7th, 2025 [March 7th, 2025]
- Sandeep Reddy Vanga reacts to criticism on violence in his films: 'The censor officer told me not to worr - TOI Etimes - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Baroness Bertin's porn review: 'This isn't me driving a tank onto the lawn of censorship' - PoliticsHome - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Freedom forgone: The concerning rise of censorship in Israel - comment - The Jerusalem Post - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Jerry Moore: The Gulf of Censorship - NNY360 - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- House Judiciary Committee subpoenas Alphabet, Meta, other tech giants over 'foreign censorship' of speech - CNBC - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Hunter Biden, Covid, and censorship? Fired reporter Catherine Herridges explosive CBS revelations: Atta - The Times of India - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- 'Craven. He's Fearful of Trump': Marty Baron Slams Jeff Bezos' Censorship of Post Opinion Section - Zeteo - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- 'Free speech is dying!' British nationals told they could be BANNED or DEPORTED from US amid censorship row - GB News - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Seven things to know about the student press - Poynter - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Child protection or censorship? The legal battle between the Court of Justice of the EU and Hungary - Euronews - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Matt Taibbi: The Collapse of the Censorship Regime - Reason - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Community Group and Huntington Beach Residents Sue City Over Library Censorship - ACLU of Southern California - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Book Bans in Schools Sweep Across Reading Levels, Genres and Topics, While Censorship Erases Stories about People of Color and LGBTQ Topics Most Often... - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- House Judiciary Committee subpoenas tech platforms over foreign censorship of Americans - Washington Times - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- MAGA on a writing spree to protect tech from censorship - EURACTIV - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]