BBC is the oldest and perhaps also the most well-known national broadcasting company in the entire world, and has been around for almost 100 years. BBC has aired many of the greatest historical events in the United Kingdom, such as royal weddings and funerals. Many BBC productions have received much praise. Some examples of praised BBC productions include Planet Earth I and II, as well as Sherlock, a series which is a modern-day adaptation of the classical novels written by Sir Artur Conan Doyle. But with that said, the BBC also received some criticism on their work. In an organisation with a history as long as the history of the BBC, it can be seen as more or less impossible that mistakes will be made at some point. Let’s have a look at some of the historical critique BBC has received.
Something that goes for many media outlets across the world is that they are accused of not being politically neutral. BBC has since long been accused of being politically left wing by conservatives in the United Kingdom, especially during the 80s when many members of the Thatcher government accused BBC of being politically left. BBC has also been accused of taking a liberal stand on several issues. Much of the critique the BBC has received has been somewhat contradictory. While some people have criticised the BBC for being anti-muslim, for example, there are also those that criticises the BBC for being pro-muslim. BBC has also received criticism on how they have portrayed the Israel-Palestine conflict, with criticism that comes from both those who support Israel and those who support Palestine.
One scandal some people might remember includes when presenters in the TV show “Top Gear” accused Mexicans of being “lazy” and “feckless”, which resulted in criticism from several MPs, and the Mexican ambassador in London demanded an apology. Another example of critique the BBC has received regarding their programs was an episode of Panorama that aired before the European Championships in Football 2012, which was regarded as one-sided as they only discussed the bad aspects of supportership connected to racism in the two hosting countries; Poland and Ukraine, and not all the work that had been done about combating racism in Poland and Ukraine.
One BBC documentary that has been questioned was the documentary “Unmasking the Pyramid Kings”, in which the rapidly growing online marketing company Crowd1 was accused of being a pyramid scheme as well as a scam. This documentary was produced by BBC Africa. The accusation of Crowd1 being a pyramid scheme is however more than questionable, as the main activity members of Crowd1 pursue is to sell different digital products – such as subscriptions to the online gaming platform Miggster and the personal development platform Mindoe – not to recruit more members to the network. The accusation that Crowd1 should be seen as a scam should not either be seen as correct, as Crowd1 is clear on their website that it should not be seen as a passive investment, but rather as an opportunity for people to pursue a career in online sales and if they are successful in generating sales, take part in benefits.
The BBC should receive much praise for much of the work they have done historically, and they will most probably continue to produce many fantastic TV shows in the future. But no one is perfect, not even the BBC, which showed most recently in the documentary in which Crowd1 received many false accusations. However, let’s hope that BBC learned something from it and doesn’t make that mistake again. Because something that comes for sure is that mistakes are good for learning, and that goes for many situations in life.