The dwarfs of Lime Grove

The BBC should be extremely grateful to Mr lain Macleod. His attack's. and those of other Tories, on the left-wing. bias of the bulk of the Inc's current affairs pro- grammes, have performed two invaluable services. In the first place, they have brought the issue of political pressure on the broadcasting authorities (which means largely the BBC, since its current affairs output is so much larger than that of ITV) out into the open.

Ever since he took office. Mr Wilson has submitted the BBC to an unprecedented barrage of complaints and pressure over programmes or performers that in one way or another have displeased him. But be- cause his method is that of private nobbling (instances of which, however. have from time to time come to light) rather than public protest. the BBC hier- archy have felt obliged to take seriously complaints which, if made public, would have been laughed out of court. It was partly for this reason that the Liberal party, in the person of Mr Eric Lubbock.

proposed that there should be a public register of official protests. Alas, like so many other Liberal brainwaves. it is a worthy non-starter: protests would simply become 'unofficial'. But now that the issue has been opened up. the BBC should seize the opportunity to keep it that way as a matter of policy.

The other way in which Mr Macleod has helped the BBC: is that, by making a be- lated and admittedly somewhat amateur- ish attempt to catch up with Labour in the complaint stakes. the Tories may help the Bac to move closer to a position in which the pressures from the two parties more or less cancel each other out. leaving the Corporation freer than it is at present.

But how would that freedom be used? How is the freedom the BBC at present enjoys used? This is the real question. For the Conservatives have been doing their best to obfuscate the real issue. Mr Eldon Griffiths has dragged commercial radio into the argument—as if anyone cared twopence about the politics of Radio Scunthorpe. What the controversy is about is nationwide television programmes— and, to a lesser extent, nationwide radio programmes too. Whether local radio is publicly or privately owned is irrelevant. And Mr Macleod, for his part, has missed the point by presenting his case in explic- itly party political terms. That there is a growing left-wing stranglehold on Lime Grove is indisputable (not least to anyone who has ever worked there); but the views that dominate are not those of the Trans- port House left. They are closer to those of the 'new left' (discussed, in different contexts, by both the Warden of All Souls and Professor Maurice Cranston elsewhere in this issue): something well to the left of the official Labour party as the term is commonly understood.

Of course, the party political and the broader aspects are not wholly separate: the tele-pamphleteers of the new left, much as they loathe Mr Wilson. would obviously c-ar rather see a Labour government than a Tory one: and as the election approaches 1.his consideration will assume increasing importance to them. But the fact remains ...hat the bias of the BBC is fundamentally ideological rather than party-political, and is expressed primarily not in the treatment of party politiciaits. hut in the selection and coverage of issue.; in which no MP appears.

And this matters outside the context of party politics or the election altogether. It is right that the voice of the 'new left' should be heard on television. But it is wrong that it should have become so all- pervasive, and so intolerant of other points of view, that the minority of the current affairs st,ff of the nrsc who do not share these views are frustrated at every turn.

It is wrong that the public should be misinformed and misled—as it was, for

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example. by the 24 tours coverage of the 1968 French 'revolution', which was pre- sented as a popular uprising against a brutal despot. No untutored viewer could have guessed for an instant that the 'des- pot' would be able to hold a free election and win a landslide majority. (24 Hours, the BBC'S main current affairs programme. is, of course, the most notorious vehicle of trendy new leftism: but One Pair of Eyes, Europa. Man Alive and Line-up, are not far behind. Panorama is now almost the only rinc television programme with any genuine 'balance' left.

And it is wrong that this sort of tale- pamphleteering should be presented. not as it is in the press. as an avowed expres- sion of a particular point of view, but as if it were a balanced and objective investi- gation or report. It may well be true that the red or black dwarfs of Lime Grove. mixing only with their own ideological kind, have come to believe that their own views represent a new conventional wis- dom, a true norm any deviation from which is barely tolerable: and that it is the 'squares' who are out of step. But those in more responsible positions in the BBC know better.

It is now up to them to reassume the editorial control which the ultra-permissive regime of Sir Hugh Greene abdicated to the bright young producers. Programmes dealing with current affairs in the broadest sense. but at present outside the current affairs department of the BBC, must be brought within it. Since the BI3C is unable to secure a politically balanced intake of bright voting men (and women), balance —and standards—will have to be insisted on by those in executive posts. Otherwise.

the situation will deteriorate further until. sooner or later, one government or another takes up some variant of Mr Benn's pro- posal that the tux. should become some- thing rather less than a tele-publishing house, offering screen time to all corners. And in broadcasting terms this would be a sadly retrograde step.

But the Tories, too, could have a role to play in keeping the Bac up to the mark.

They should go on complaining—indeed.

they should complain far more frequently than they have in the past. But they should take a leaf out of Mr Wilson's book. and complain not in a sweeping way about a general left-wing bias, but in a detailed way about specific instances. (They might start. for instance. with The World at One of 10 March. the 24 Hours programmes of 12 and 18 March. and the list of those invited to contribute to One Pair of Eyes since its inception—to give a random selec- tion of examples.) This is hard work: it involves carefully and intelligently moni- toring every programme. But it is both more convincing and more effective than any generalised accusation. Even so. it will be a waste of time if both the Tories and the par continue to think of bias in narrow, party political terms. For it is pre- cisely under the cover of this smokescreen that the present unhappy situation has been able to arise.