The BBC has revealed that it intends to continue its policy of discrimination against republicans. In a report to the BBC Trust the director-general says that the state media giant will spend more money on covering Windsor family funerals and weddings, which he described as “nationally unifying events”.
The state broadcaster has for long treated British republicans as non-existent, indistinguishable from Irish nationalist terrorists or as worthy of contempt. At the same time it has encouraged love of the feudal monarchy.
However recent attempts by the Corporation to whip up public sympathy for the monarchy have not always worked. It had planned elaborate coverage of public grief on the death of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the mother of the present head of state, known as “the Queen Mother”. In the event lack of public interest caused the state broadcaster to tone down its coverage. When it switched a popular hospital drama to another channel to make way for a tribute, 4.9m viewers also switched channels to watch the drama.
The BBC sees its own status as similar to that that of the feudal institution, unaccountable to democratic institutions. Professor Steven Barnett told the Financial Times that the BBC says in effect “we are not going to be beholden to the private sector or politicians”. Another commentator quoted in the newspaper said the BBC “trust is not answerable to politicians but to a royal charter”.