LETTERS
From D. H. Cameron, Lt-Col H. R. Pelly, George Henry, L. Clarke, Tibor Szamuely, R. W. Taylor, A. H. Samuel, Christopher Mohler, M. Doutrepont, Emrys Jones.
The dwarfs of Lime Grove
Sir: Your correspondent Yvonne C. R. Brock (Letters, 18 April) sees your editorial of 11 April as part of a sinister Tory conspir- acy to soften up the electorate for com- mercial radio. She dismisses your complaints on the ground that political bias is hard to assess objectively; it depends largely on the viewpoint of the listener. She instances a member of the Monday Club, to whom, she imagines, Mr Norman St John-Stevas would seem a dangerous radical.
No doubt the degree of bias detected will depend on the viewpoint of the lisfener, but there are listeners, each of course with his own viewpoint, who try to discount that viewpoint and to make an objective assess- ment. Those of this category whom I have met would have no hesitation in agreeing with the substance of your complaint although, again according to their viewpoint, they might feel that you had understated or overstated your case.
Your correspondent seems to me (not a member of the Monday Club, nor for that matter of any Tory association) to be deliber- ately confusing the issue when she says that what matters is not whether programmes are left, right or centre but that the broadcasting authority remains impervious to political or commercial pressures and that it stimulates the imagination of its public by producing genuinely creative programmes. Leaving aside the argument that in the case of pro- ably 90 per cent of television viewers the chances of stimulating imagination are about nil, the fact remains that there are pressures which are neither political nor commercial but which operate directly against this worthy aim. Your editorial made the specific point that the pressures which presently exist in the BBC are ideological rather than political Cyour correspondent would pretend there is no distinction), but nevertheless result in a preponderance of left wing bias in the presentation of what purport to be objective programmes.
As for the probable effect of commercial pressures, it would be interesting to know if any reasonably objective viewers have- de- tected a right wing bias in commercial cur- rent affairs programmes.
D. H. Cameron Spoutwells House, Scone, Perthshire
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