THE PROGRAMME brought up once again the vexed question of
BBC 'impartiality.' Mr. Chataway left us with the impression that everything in Iran is fine; but he did not interview anybody who holds the opposite viewpoint—possibly because anybody who does realises what his fate would be if he told the BBC about it. Mr. Scott seemed to think the present crisis has 'reaffirmed the importance of Cyprus as a base : he should have stopped to ask himself whether the 40,000 troops tied down there trying to prevent a civil war might not be better deployed elsewhere. Only in Aden was there any conscientious attempt to get the anti-Western viewpoint; and even here Alan Whicker's approach was not very happy. To conduct an interview while driving a car through crowded streets is an amusing gimmick for a broadcast magazine; but it was out of place in this programme. And Mr. Whicker, if I heard him aright, appears to be under the impression that President Nasser was responsible for remov- ing the civil liberties enjoyed by the Egyptians under that great democrat, King Farouk. I am not suggesting that the BBC was nobbled by the Foreign Office; I just got the impression that the BBC's emissaries, whatever their personal views, are afflicted by establishmentitis when they travel.
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