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BBC Bans News Stars from Anti-War March

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By Jason Deans

Guardian
February 11, 2003

Senior BBC news presenters such as Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce and journalists including Andrew Marr have been ordered by bosses to stay away from Saturday's anti-war march in London. The BBC deputy director of news, Mark Damazer, yesterday sent an email to newsroom staff listing which categories of journalist should not attend the march and rally in Hyde Park.

These include all presenters, correspondents, editors, output editors and "anyone who can be considered a 'gatekeeper' of our output". Mr Damazer said he was allowing more junior staff to attend the march but only in a "private capacity with no suggestion that he or she speaks for the BBC".

The BBC director general, Greg Dyke, has also reminded staff they should remember their duty to be "independent, impartial and honest" in the coming weeks as a possible war with Iraq looms. "There is a need to balance a respect for civil liberties with the BBC's need to be impartial," a BBC spokeswoman said.

"The view taken by the BBC about this weekend's peace march is that senior editorial decision makers and people who present the BBC's news programmes should not attend the march," she added. In putting out this advice on the anti-war march, BBC executives will be mindful its journalists regularly come in for criticism from the rightwing press for alleged bias in their political coverage.

The former editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Rod Liddle, was forced to resign last September after the Daily Telegraph accused him of "blatant bias" because he did not report the Countryside Alliance's march in the show's 8am bulletin the following Monday. The Telegraph also complained that Liddle wrote in his Guardian column that the Countryside Alliance march reminded people why they voted Labour in 1997.

Liddle was given the choice by the BBC of giving up his Guardian column or his Today job and chose the latter. Following the incident, in November BBC editors were forbidden from writing newspaper columns. In contrast to the BBC's attempts to ensure its coverage of the build up to war with Iraq is impartial, most national newspapers have very clearly taken sides in the debate. The Daily Mirror and its editor, Piers Morgan, have come out very strongly against war, while the new Sun editor, Rebekah Wade, has kept with her predecessor David Yelland's fierce pro-war stance.

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.