The biggest threat to the BBC's independence is the corporation itself George Monbiot

over 3 years in The guardian

It follows a news agenda set by media oligarchs. Instead it should be investigating power, money and their influence on our lives
They don’t want balance, they want possession. The oligarchs who own the newspapers will never accept the BBC, because it does not belong to them. However tame and conservative it becomes, they will demand it is defunded. And Boris Johnson is listening.
In an interview with the Guardian last week, the presenter Andrew Marr warned: “The Murdoch empire and others are trying to push us towards a world in which the BBC is pretty marginal and people are getting most of their news and their views from privately funded television companies, as in America.” He’s right. A forthcoming book by Patrick Barwise and Peter York, The War Against the BBC, shows that Johnson’s attacks arise from a long-standing plan to cripple it. Dominic Cummings sketched out his strategy in 2004: discredit the BBC; set up rival, partisan channels; and lift the ban on political advertising. It seems to be falling into place. Continue reading...

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