I’m honestly not surprised the BBC’s taken a hit in this. Anti-BBC and anti-licence fee rhetoric seems to have been growing even more than usual during lockdown.
I am not sure whether it has actually grown in the real world.
Twitter seems to be the BBC battle ground. Recently you have the "#DefundTheBBC" campaign - which (I think) kicked off quite intensely after the Maitlis "bias" judgement. I have to admit - this campaign seems to involve people from the twitter right than the twitter left.
In reality, if people were asked "would you rather spend £12 on a TV licence or not spend £12 on a TV licence" I think that most people would rather not spend £12.
But - when you think of the BBC - what do you think of?
My first thought (being a news and politics obsessive) is the news department. But you
have to remember that the BBC stretches far and wide.
- Radio 1/1Xtra/2/3/4/4Extra/5/5Extra/6/Radio Scotland/all local radio services
- World Service/Asian Network
- BBC News Channel/BBC World News
- BBC programming (from Children in Need to EastEnders - all in a sense apart of British life)
- CBeebies (a free childcare service)
I think the "Defund the BBC" brigade on twitter only see the news department. And dare I suggest that most of the people who call the BBC bias regularly (I am aware that they make mistakes quite frequently however I wouldn't say that they are institutionally bias) dislike views and facts that do not coincide with there's.
It's the whole scum media thing. Kicked off by the Cummings drama. "How dare the media report on a rule-maker breaking the rules!"
It's silly. The twitter stuff is silly.