Tutorial

It's fun watching a tutor baiting a tutee. Roger Mosey, now Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, was Kevin Bakhurst's boss at the BBC - Roger as Head of Television News, Kevin editing the Ten O'Clock News. Kevin is now Director of Content at Ofcom and will have signed off the Piers Morgan/GMB 'judgement'.  Roger thinks Kevin is wrong and has written to The Times; Kevin probably can't afford to leave this correspondence unanswered. 

Sir, I am unequivocally in favour of free speech. I also believe that there should be a greater diversity of views in broadcast news. However, I am concerned by Ofcom’s ruling that Piers Morgan as the presenter of a news-based programme on a public service channel can give his unfettered opinions on the issues of the day (report, Sep 2). If Morgan was right to say what he did about the Duchess of Sussex, what was wrong with Emily Maitlis’s more tempered comments about Dominic Cummings? At the time, Ofcom said “[news] presenters should ensure that they do not inadvertently give the impression of setting out personal opinions or views” — and that is surely right. We do not want to hear what Huw Edwards or Julie Etchingham think of the day’s events, and nor should a news breakfast show on a major channel be dominated by the opinions of its presenters. That route leads us to the aggressive polarisation of the media seen in the United States, when the public need in these times is for accurate reporting and cool analysis.

Roger Mosey

Former head of BBC Television News; Master, Selwyn College, Cambridge