The Positive Trump Effect on Biased Reporting by the BBC

The BBC faces a battle over the TV licence fee within weeks as ministers launch a “fundamental” review of the corporation after claims of bias.

Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, is understood to be planning to launch her consultation on the BBC’s royal charter before Christmas, and will consider wholesale reform of the licence fee as part of a “comprehensive look at the way the BBC operates”.

The once-a-decade charter renewal is expected to focus on providing a “sustainable” funding model and restoring public trust in BBC news content.

Sources stressed that it was not connected to the bias scandal that has engulfed the corporation since The Telegraph revealed how footage was edited in a Panorama documentary to exaggerate Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol riots.

The review follows a disastrous week for the BBC, culminating in the resignations of Tim Davie, the director general, and Deborah Turness, the news chief, on Sunday after more revelations in The Telegraph about biased reporting.

The documentary’s coverage was revealed in former journalist Michael Prescott’s independent review of the corporation’s reporting, which was leaked to The Telegraph.

Mr Trump has demanded that the corporation apologise and “appropriately compensate” him “for the harm caused” by Friday evening, or face a $1bn (£760m) lawsuit.

A letter from his lawyers to the corporation on Monday said that if his demands were not met, the US president “will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights…including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 in damages”. It added: “The BBC is on notice.”

A Government source said that after Mr Davie and Ms Turness’s resignations, Labour was planning a major review of the corporation, which could include governance issues and would be “more fundamental than individuals”.

On Monday, Samir Shah, the BBC’s chairman, defended the organisation’s handling of a series of impartiality scandals, arguing that it was “simply not true” that executives had “done nothing to tackle these problems”. He said there was no evidence of “systemic bias or institutional bias” in his organisation, and praised Mr Davie for his “outstanding” work.

Mr Shah said: “I can’t control how people have a go at the BBC. It doesn’t surprise me that every single thing we do [is] used by those who are hostile to us.”

A YouGov poll published on Monday night found that half of people asked believed the BBC was biased, with 31 per cent saying it was too left-wing and 19 per cent saying it was too right-wing. Meanwhile, 44 per cent said Mr Davie was right to resign, compared with just seven per cent who said he made the wrong decision.

The Government’s consultation, which is in the final stages of drafting by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), is due to be launched next month, although sources said the timetable could be pushed back to early next year.

It will explore new ideas to restore public trust in the BBC, as well as various funding schemes, including a part-subscription, part-licence fee model to diversify the corporation’s revenue streams.

Sir John Whittingdale, who presided over the last charter renewal in 2016, said the licence fee was not “sustainable” in the long term, and urged ministers to consider alternatives.

He said: “It is now the reality that each year a number of people stop paying, because they decide they no longer need the BBC because they are accessing all the services they want through streaming services. There is a risk of a tipping point where the steady trickle of people saying they’re not going to pay becomes a flood. We are not there yet, but it is in sight.”

Nigel Huddleston, the shadow culture secretary, said: “The BBC’s licence fee is based on the British public’s trust and confidence in the BBC, which is also reliant on impartiality. So if impartiality is jeopardised, then so is the licence fee. There is no simple solution here, but I think it’s a perfectly valid topic for debate, and looking at alternative funding sources is an important part of that.”

The licence fee raised £3.7bn last year, the lowest return for four years, and accounted for 68 per cent of BBC funding. The remainder was raised from advertising outside the UK and other commercial income, including grants, royalties and rents.

As revenues have fallen, licence fee evasion has risen by an estimated 62 per cent in the past four years, up from 6.95 per cent in 2019-20 to 11.30 per cent in 2023-24.

Mr Shah has previously suggested that wealthier households could be asked to pay more for their TV licence, amid criticism from Labour that a flat rate is “regressive”.

Although ministers cannot intervene in the day-to-day running of the BBC, the charter renewal is an opportunity to shape the mandate of the corporation and attempt to restore public trust in its coverage.

The Government will first launch a green paper on the new charter, followed by a white paper setting out Ms Nandy’s plans for the BBC’s next decade.

The Culture Secretary has previously said she hopes to be “radical” with the licence fee, and declined to rule out a full subscription-based model that would be comparable to streaming services.

Last month, she said she thought a “mixed” model, including an annual payment and elements of subscription-based content could replace the “unenforceable” licence fee.

Ms Nandy, who has criticised the BBC for targeting much of its enforcement activity at vulnerable women, also warned in September that public trust had been eroded by two breaches of editorial standards on reporting in Palestine and “death to the IDF” chants at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, speaking at a small business event on Monday, said the BBC “has been institutionally biased for decades” and pledged a full review if he wins the next general election.

He said: “If the BBC doesn’t now get a grip, get somebody in from the outside, somebody who has got a history and a culture of changing organisations, of turning them around, then I think what you would see within the next couple of years are many, many millions just refusing, just not wanting to have the licence fee.”

A Downing Street spokesman declined to comment on the eventual outcome of the charter renewal consultation, but said it was “vital that licence fee payers can trust what they see”.

The spokesman said: “We’re preparing for the upcoming charter review, which we expect to launch in due course, and will consider a range of issues including how the BBC can continue to prosper, supported by sustainable funding.”