The BBC may have leaned towards pro-lockdown coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in a reaction to the threat to its funding, former Supreme Court Justice Lord Jonathan Sumption has said.
“The BBC, which is probably the most influential single media organ, was consistently pro-lockdown. It was, of course, under threat to its financial model from the Government and it therefore wanted to show that it was ‘good boys’,” he told the Telegraph‘s Planet Normal podcast with Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan. He continued:
Within the BBC, I know for certain that there were a variety of opinions, but the one which they chose to concentrate on was that the lockdown was a great idea, that people who were sceptical were being anti-social, and there was very little to show that there was an alternative view held by responsible people.
As a matter of fact, that still seems to be the position of the BBC. They are still running articles about Long Covid and the like, and no articles, or very few articles, about those things that suggest that a mistake was made.
Listen to the full podcast here or here.
That might be the BBC’s excuse. But what about everyone else? The coverage in the Times, for instance, or on ITV or Sky was hardly better. Perhaps it was all the advertising revenue from Government propaganda…
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.