Europe: Boris against BBC | IPS Journal

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Boris Johnson sadly celebrates in the 2019 UK general election avoid a live TV interview by diving into a refrigerator. As the first and so far only major British party leader not to appear before veteran BBC broadcaster Andrew Neil for an election interview in thirty years, Neil has taken the unprecedented step of reprimand a Prime Minister sitting on the air.

Freshly elected for a new term, Johnson's advisers now want to drop British Broadcasting Corporations 'license fees for TV owners when the broadcasters' charter is renewed in 2027. Meanwhile, government plans to decriminalize no -payment which could deprive the BBC of the means to collect from those who refuse to pay. It is estimated that the BBC could lose up to 75% of its revenues if the fees, amounting to around 185 per household per year, are removed.

If this sounds familiar to you, it is because the German right-wing populist party Alternative en Deutschland (AfD) has offered something similar for years. In a disturbing development for defenders of media freedom and for progressive and liberal democrats around the world, it is no longer necessary to look to a place like Orbans Hungary for the suppression of the media. The beginnings of one can already be seen in one of the most advanced democracies in Europe, the United Kingdom. Similar to the ruling Fidesz in Hungary or the AfD in Germany, Johnsons Conservative Party launched a sophisticated process of interference in the British media landscape. The goal is to undermine critical journalism.

Solidarity between journalists

As with Johnsons' current practice, AfD defenders abolition of the compulsory fee that all German households pay for the country's public broadcasters, l & # 39; call a measure to promote free and independent media. The Bundestag AfD contingent even went as far as host a free media conference, which contained a kind of Whos Who of far-right bloggers and YouTubers. Some participants even suggested that AfD parliamentarians no longer share articles from mainstream media or the system press on their social media platforms, but only the coverage of their free media platforms. AfD parliamentarian and conference host Uwe Schulz called free media gathered whose reporting was independent of political ideology implying that the press of the German system is biased.

The proximity between the great British tabloids like The sun and the British ruling the Conservatives may seem to recall the relationship between the Hungarians media oligarchs and Orbans Fidesz.

The Johnsons Tories have in recent years similarly accused the BBC of political bias. Johnson himself once referred to it like Brexit Bashing Corporation in the 2019 Tory leadership race. So is Donald Trump prohibitions or threatens to ban critical journalists from the White House, Johnsons communications staff recently tried to ban some journalists of a technical briefing to be given by the senior official of the British Brexit team. Guest journalists boycotted conference en masse.

For German observers, this was very much like a Brandenburg AfD press conference in 2018, during which journalists mass declutching to protest against the AfD's refusal to answer questions from the BILD. Although the solidarity of fellow journalists prevented Number 10 from banning certain journalists from its technical briefing, Johnson no longer allows his cabinet ministers to appear on the flagship of BBC Radio 4 Today & # 39; hui program, supposedly due to an alleged anti-conservative, pro-remaining bias.

From the Fox News game book

While some journalists may boycott British government briefings on attempts to ban certain outlets, the editorial boards of the major British tabloids supporting Brexit do not necessarily show similar solidarity, and even speak in favor of recent Johnsons' tactics towards the BBC. The sun The newspaper, owned by Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch, inserts an editorial comment section, titled The sun said in many of his press articles. One of these extracts, inserted in a new stories on government plans to cut fees, called on readers to examine how the BBC had trashed its once proud reputation () for the liberal left's tedious and institutional bias in news, theater and comedy. The overpaid leaders producing hold woke up, knowing that the billions will still continue to roll.

The proximity between the great British tabloids like The sun and the British ruling the Conservatives may seem to recall the relationship between the Hungarians media oligarchs and Orbans Fidesz. However, in practice, this is more like the dynamic between Donald Trump and Fox News. While Orban ensures the loyalty of the media oligarchs by distributing public resources, the British tabloids are used to influencing public opinion and government on key policies.

For the British on the left and the right, accusing the BBC of political bias during and after the same election is quite a feat for the BBC.

In 2016, they Sustained Brexit even as the then Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, campaigned for a remaining vote. They often support politicians who share their political goals, while addressing dangerously populist criticism to those they see as obstructing those goals. Following a court ruling in 2016, it was seen as a legal trick to thwart Brexit, the Daily Mail splashed front page photos of three British High Court judges, entitled Enemies of the People.

The threat to democracy is there

Amidst often polarized Britains, the populist and partisan media landscape is sometimes seated at the BBC. Nearly a century, 75% of British adults access BBC content in any form, whether on television, radio or online. Just as it is accused of bias against the British right, the British left has also accused the BBC of bias. After Labor's worst election result since 1935, ghost transport secretary Andy McDonald complains leader Jeremy Corbyn had been unfairly demonized by the media, including the BBC.

For the British on the left and the right, accusing the BBC of political bias during and after the same election is quite a feat for the BBC. Getting such criticism from both sides of the British political spectrum for its coverage of the same event suggests that the BBC is doing something good in critical journalism and impartial reporting. With the current level of support for the Johnson Tories from the British right-wing tabloid press, BBC journalism is even more distinctive and important in Britain's Brexit than before.

Johnsons' public fight with the BBC also serves to highlight a few other harsh truths. First, the EU is negotiating with another increasingly populist and authoritarian government at its doorstep. Second, attacks on the media as an institution only take place in relatively new democracies. The retreat from democratic principles can occur practically everywhere, even in countries which, only a few years ago, appeared to be models of political and economic stability.