A rare sighting of former BBC executive Helen Boaden today, in the Letters section of The Times...
Sir, Quentin Letts (Comment, Sep 29, and letters, Sep 30) is right that the BBC has had political chairmen before. However, unlike Charles Moore they all started with a deep respect for public service broadcasting and the institution that embodied it. Lord Moore of Etchingham has always made clear his hostility to the BBC and to this concept, going so far as to break the law in his refusal to pay his licence fee. Whatever their party politics, previous chairmen also recognised that the BBC is a formidable source of soft power for the UK, showing some of our best civic values: impartiality, independence and fairness. Today the BBC remains the most trusted international broadcaster, reaching 468 million people every week.
Should we hand over this world-class brand to someone whose public statements demonstrate his profound lack of sympathy with everything that has made it successful? Other political chairmen left their opinions at the door. Could Lord Moore be trusted to do the same?
No comments:
Post a Comment