The BBC, Question Time and the BNP

Back in October last year the BBC were heavily criticised for allowing Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader and Member of the European Parliament for North-West England, a panelist spot on Question Time.

The BBC staunchly defended its decision to allow Mr. Griffin on the programme, with the BBC Trust deciding not to hear any appeals before the programme was broadcast. Deciding, that ‘to do so would undermine the editorial independence of the BBC’. Sir Michael Lyons, BBC Trust Chairman said:

The BBC Trust is aware of the debate and public controversy on this issue and understands that this is a matter of considerable importance to many licence fee payers. We take our responsibilities in this area very seriously in line with the BBC’s constitutional arrangements.

The publically-funded BBC has no allegiance to any political party, and considers itself independent from any ‘party line’. For the BBC to commit to its editorial guidelines and to remain impartial, it has to broadcast the opinions of all legitimate political party’s within British politics. The BBC has a democratic right to do so, be it from the one end of the political spectrum such as Greenpeace, to the other, such as the BNP.

However the broadcasting of Question Time back in October, led to the BBC facing strong opposition from the public, who protested against the BNP leader outside the headquarters in London:

So would it be biased then if the BBC failed to allow Mr. Griffin to go on Question Time? If they didn’t allow him to appear on the programme then certainly, the BBC would have fallen foul on impartiality.

But where do the BBC draw the line between impartiality and propaganda? The protests against Nick Griffin appearing on Question Time were for appropriate reasons. The BNP have particular extremist views and Mr. Griffin routinely makes insinuate racial comments – the protests were against this. But by allowing the BNP a voice on Question Time, have the BBC done the BNP a favour by broadcasting racist and fascist opinion?

Nick Griffin, shortly after the show posted a video on the BNP official website claiming that the BBC were “bias” and that the BNP would put forward a “formal complaint” to the BBC about the handling of the show:

So the BBC acted correctly on issues of impartiality by allowing Nick Grffin to appear on Question Time, but by doing so have they muddied the waters between allowing all to speak freely and misinformation?