Abstract
In January 2023, the British public broadcaster BBC published the results of an external review assessing whether they were achieving impartiality in their coverage of contentious topics. This initiative started following a recommendation of another review which scrutinized the BBC's editorial standards in the aftermath of a historic scandal.
The first topics chosen for this latest review were taxation, public spending, and government borrowing and debt. The work was led by a seasoned economic expert and a broadcaster who examined 11,000 pieces of relevant content and looked closely into 1,000 of them. They analyzed whether the BBC's broadcast, radio, and online content reflected a breadth of voices and viewpoints. They also considered various elements such as accuracy, use of data, and the questions, and the tone of interviews.
The BBC has been facing increasing criticism for being ”biased or ”unfair” as political and social divisions widen and debates become argumentative, especially on social media. While the report did not find evidence of ”political bias,” it pointed out that there were ”gaps and assumptions” which put impartiality at risk.
