According to the Daily Telegraph (10th November) the BBC is in an ‘existential crisis’. Noting that the Telegraph may not be quite on top of the works of Sartre, it can be agreed that the Panorama Trump editing issue is a crisis.
As former BBC journalist Robin Lustig has noted while the error was serious the real problem was the week’s delay in apologising for it. At the root of that seems to be an issue that while ex-DG Tim Davie was a former Tory candidate he was just not right-wing enough for the likes of BBC Board member and Boris Johnson protege Robbie Gibb.
However while the BBC faces a crisis so does the Telegraph as this paragraph from a recent Sky News report underlines
The Telegraph’s ownership has been in a state of limbo for nearly two-and-a-half years after its parent company was forced into insolvency by Lloyds Banking Group, which ran out of patience with the Barclay family, the newspaper’s long-standing owner.
The latest potential owner is US based Redbird Capital. Whether the bid proceeds depends on the Government giving approval. Not to the Editorial line of the Telegraph but whether the new owner will guarantee the paper’s Editorial independence such as it is.
Meanwhile the Times reported last week that according to the Telegraph’s auditors until the ownership issue is settled their remains a doubt over whether the Telegraph will remain a going concern.
Crisis, what crisis?
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