Tim Davie speaks out as impartiality guidelines are unveiled

The BBC’s director-general has vowed that comedy shows should not be ‘neutered by a desire to play things safe’.

Unveiling a new impartiality action plan across the Corporation, Tim Davie says comedy should not be ‘fenced into limited creative spaces’ in order to save audiences from being offended.

In the year since taking over the top job, Davie has been under pressure, especially from the right-leaning press, to stop bowing to what’s seen as a ‘cancel culture’.

In an article today he warned the UK risks developing a climate in which debating issues and sharing views is seen as ‘simply too risky’.

He said: ‘We need to ensure that genres such as comedy are not neutered by a desire to play things safe.’

‘We all know there are limits, and that a routine fuelled by gratuitous unpleasantness is unfunny, but we should not be fenced into limited creative spaces where no-one can take any offence.’

Issuing the new guidelines Davie, a former Conservative councillor, promised the ‘highest standards of editorial impartiality’, which he called the BBC’s ‘first priority.’

He is facing renewed pressure from the government, with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries especially hostile to the corporation. She previously claimed: ‘Left-wing snowflakes are killing comedy.’

Davie’s decision to axe The Mash Report was widely seen as appeasing critics on the right – although he has not disclosed any political reasoning behind it

At the time, the BBC said: ‘In order to make room for new comedy shows we sometimes have to make difficult decisions and it won’t be returning.’

Tim Davie's article in full:

Fewer than a third of people feel they can share views without fear. Nearly half of us choose to censor our opinions in day-to-day life. This is according to new research commissioned by the BBC and published today, which forces us to think carefully about the future of public debate in this country.

Free speech is fundamental to the strength of British democratic society. We value our right to freedom of expression highly. We understand that democracy depends on the open exchange of information and ideas. So how is it that we have become so nervous to share views?

It’s a fear many of us recognise. We worry that going public with a simple opinion could leave us vulnerable to abuse. This is not just about social media, but there is no doubt that it has changed the landscape forever. We risk a climate where debating issues and sharing a view is seen as simply too risky, leaving space for only the noisiest and most extreme voices to have their say. In public roles like mine, you are only one sentence from a social media "pile on" and the easiest thing could be to play safe or not express a view.

This newspaper has been quick to call for an end to the scandal of egregious online abuse. It is right to point out that the overwhelming majority of online threats go unpunished in a way that would be unthinkable if they had occurred face to face. As a country, I think we have reached an important point of reflection. Perhaps it is time for a communal commitment to listening to each other, championing robust debate, welcoming other views and fostering tolerance of opinions that we do not agree with, or even that make us uncomfortable.

Some cite the right to free speech as a defence for online abuse, but the reality is that much of this abuse serves to suppress free speech through intimidation. When such a high proportion of us are afraid to voice our views, it’s impossible to claim it as a victory for free expression.

As leader of a news organisation, I see the impact that abuse has on journalists every day. It’s no coincidence that as online disinformation has proliferated, so have attacks on those whose job it is to expose it. Reporters have increasingly become targets for those who deliberately seek to exploit disinformation – for commercial or political advantage, to disrupt democracy, or to fuel social division. We only have to look to the riots that took place at the US Capitol in January to see what can happen when truth is entirely contested and communities are no longer able to communicate across political divides. No wonder the BBC’s survey found over 60 per cent of people in the UK are exhausted by the divisions in society today.

It is wrong that journalists who are asking fair questions are quickly labelled as opponents with an agenda. Too often we ascribe partial motives to open minded interrogation so that the opportunity for balanced debate is lost.

The so-called "culture wars" can provide fertile territory for clickbait, fury and fear. Nearly nine out of ten of us feel we should be able to disagree without fear of the consequences but the current climate is in danger of extinguishing our ability to do so.

In this country we have been justifiably proud of the standards of our national debate. We must not allow fear to corrode those standards. The BBC has an important role to play. It is fundamental to our public service duty to ensure all voices and views across every part of the UK are heard. It’s part of our responsibility to make sure our national discourse is informed by facts people can rely on and perspectives from those on all sides. Our journalists, who are admired worldwide, are committed to fighting for impartial, balanced reporting and facilitating respectful, robust exchanges of differing views while appropriately holding people to account.

Beyond news, we need to ensure that genres like comedy are not neutered by a desire to play things safe. We all know there are limits, and that a routine fuelled by gratuitous unpleasantness is unfunny, but we should not be fenced into limited creative spaces where no-one can take any offence.

Of course, we cannot succeed unless we meet the very highest standards of editorial impartiality. That’s why we have made this our first priority. Over the past year we have issued new guidance to staff and established new rules for declaring external engagements. We have cracked down on inappropriate social media use and made clear to staff that, if you want to be an opinionated journalist or partisan campaigner, the BBC is not for you.

Today, we are building on this by announcing further change to help ensure that we are delivering on both standards and impartiality. We will give more space to programming that actively explores different points of view - as well as putting even more focus on our reporting of misinformation and fact checking. Alongside, we are also announcing significant measures to ensure we review and track our progress. We will fight to ensure there are unbiased, open and transparent spaces in which views can be shared and the facts count.

Of course, success is about more than the future of the BBC. It is about doing our bit to banish fear from public debate. It’s time for all of us who believe in the free and open exchange of ideas to push back against the tyranny of a wholly polarised society and make the UK a beacon for free, enlightened, robust and respectful debate.

Published: 29 Oct 2021