I have often criticised BBC journalism on the issues of sex and gender because that journalism has often been quite bad. So it’s all the more important to for me to highlight instances when the Corporation does good journalism here. Stephen Nolan of the BBC has done that this week, and more.
You might not be aware of the series of outstanding podcasts that Nolan released this week, examining the influence that Stonewall, a charity that lobbies on sex and gender issues, has over public bodies including the BBC itself.
One reason you might have missed those podcasts is that the BBC itself has hardly bothered to promote them, even though they represent the very best of its journalism, the sort of inquiry that a public service broadcaster exists to carry out.
Just in case you don’t have a spare six hours to listen to ten podcasts, you can read a decent summary of the Nolan team’s findings here on the BBC website.
Probably the most remarkable finding in that investigation is that Ofcom, the media regulator, used its rulings on broadcasters’ content to try to impress Stonewall and score points on its Workplace Equality Index, which supposedly measures how employers are doing in supporting LGBT staff.
That sounds like a technical, bureaucratic point, but it’s hugely important. It strongly suggests that Ofcom has exercised its statutory powers to regulate media output not in accordance with the instructions it has been given by government and parliament but to align with the agenda of an outside organisation, Stonewall.
That’s not how public policy or government should work. Ofcom, like other public bodies, gets to do things that affect people and their lives (in this case, helping to decide what we can and cannot watch on TV) because those people (the electorate) have put in a place a parliament and government that gives Ofcom the authority to do so.
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