Robin Aitken

More northern accents won’t save the BBC

(Photo: iStock)

It seems that the BBC has finally acknowledged the truth of George Bernard Shaw’s aphorism. Demonstrating his inherent anti-Englishness, the old Fabian snob declared: 

‘It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.’ 

And the barb hurts because to an extent we must accept that it is partly true. 

Sticking a few more regional accents in front of a microphone doesn’t begin to address the real problems the BBC faces

In our defence, it is also true of people other than the English. Every European country, and probably every country in the world (including Shaw’s Ireland) has its own bumpkin regional twang which the boss class looks down on. Universality doesn’t make this discrimination right – but the way a person speaks is an instant indicator of origins, education and class.

But it seems a penny has dropped at the BBC – an organisation which is getting fretful about the possibility that it is unloved in some parts of the country. In a belated acknowledgement by the Corporation that many see it as elitist and unsympathetic, the BBC has announced a change in which the good people of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the north east and the north west will no longer be subjected to ‘Received Pronunciation’ announcers on the telly. Instead they will have people who speak like they do, supposedly.

How does this ‘Across the UK initiative’ (there’s the BBC speak for you) strike you? Do you think ‘at last! The BBC understands my needs: regional accents are the root cause of my disaffection’, or do you think that this looks like a rather shallow, even slightly patronising, cosmetic change designed to bring the provincials back on side? As someone not yet convinced that the BBC is determined to reform itself, I favour the latter explanation.

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Written by
Robin Aitken
Robin Aitken is a former BBC journalist and author of 'The Noble Liar: How and Why the BBC Distorts the News to Promote a Liberal Agenda'. He is also co-founder of the Oxford Foodbank.

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