Tim Davie in The Telegraph: "At the BBC, we will banish fear from public debate"

[ScreamingMeMeSawUs]

This seems significant.

www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2021/10/29/comedy-must-not-neutered-fear-causing-offence/

At the BBC, we will banish fear from public debate

In an age of division and disinformation, the Corporation has a duty to ensure all voices and views are heard

Less than a third of people feel they can share views without fear. Nearly half of us choose to censor our opinions in day-to-day life. This is according to new research commissioned by the BBC and published today, which forces us to think carefully about the future of public debate in this country.

On the BBC's site:

BBC unveils 'significant' 10-point impartiality plan

(There is a link to a pdf 9f their 10-point plan in this article.)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59088800

I think we may already be seeing the results of this?

Interesting timing. It will be useful to see who they consider appointing that has a track record in evidence and standards and is non-BBC.

I think the report looks good and has impartiality at the heart and in everything.
There will still be complaints of course but I think most people are happy if things are as balanced as possible and other viewpoints are heard. It’s better for all of us in the end. And I don’t want to hear nick Robinsons ( for example) personal opinion on anything so it’s good to re spell that out to even the bigger stars. I want to not know what he thinks about anything. That was always the case for the bbc but a few presenters seem to have become “activists” lately in which case the bbc should not be the employer for them.
Also makes point that although employee networks are important, their opinions are not the most important thing and editors make decisions on output and impartiality trumps everything else which I also think is good. Stops some employee networks thinking they can decide what us the audience can see/ hear.
Above everything we ( the public) like fairness I think.

That's interesting. I've heard the BBC radio news cover the conversion therapy consultation story throughout the day, and it was noticeable how level-headed and informative the reporting has been, rather than unthinkingly preceding anything they say as "controversial" or "anti trans".

The recent 'cotton ceiling' article may be an example of this.

Nolan on Feedback next week, about investigating the BBC.....

I wonder how they balance, impartiality, sharing all views with not presenting things even handedly when they are not even handed - e.g. climate change.

I feel that for instance, the regular guesting of Farage increased support for UKIP when previously, it was a minority view within the conservative party.

Like at what point does providing people with regular exposure to opinions, be less reflecting what is already there and starts to mainstream or even endorse those points of views.

I like the idea of them making it so that people aren't afraid of gender critical debate because so far, the worry that you are going to be dismissed as some unspeakable person "TERF/Transphobe" by people who don't even understand that there is another reasonable point of view - that respects adult trans people's right to present themselves however masculine, feminine or androgynous as they like, but still maintains safeguarding for children and vulnerable spaces for women, female sports etc.

I don't know maybe it wasn't the wrong thing about Farage and the people he was arguing with ought to have put their cases better. I haven't thought that through.

But I suppose the broadcaster does have a duty not only to try and explaining opposing views, but also in it's choice of topics too. Choosing where to direct our attention is a great responsibility.

This seems smart. People are increasingly wondering what the BBC is even for. He’s come up with a great answer to that question.

If they’d kept up “walk in woke lockstep” they’d have been doomed.

The power of attention is so important.

For instance during the early weeks and months of Covid where we were getting so much data, it occurred to me - not that it was wrong to do that in a crisis - but the power of focusing everyone's attention on it.

What if there was data on the news daily about deaths by heart disease by country, or about CO2 emissions, or people told their cancer was in remission, waiting times for counseling or random acts of kindness by citizens or whatever. (I appreciate some of those have clearer datasets than others).

When we focused on Covid, daily briefings, charts of cases and deaths and later vaccine doses, people worked towards improving those metrics. Developing vaccines, treatments and prevention.

Which metrics could we focus on to keep our planet habitable, increase biodiversity, improve human health and happiness?