BBC News

===Political and commercial independence===
The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners. This political objectivity is sometimes questioned. For instance, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' (3 August 2005) carried a letter from the [[KGB]] defector [[Oleg Gordievsky]], referring to it as "The Red Service". Books have been written on the subject, including anti-BBC works like ''Truth Betrayed'' by W J West and ''The Truth Twisters'' by Richard Deacon. The BBC has been accused of bias by Conservative MPs.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-02-17|title=BBC licence fee: Tory MPs warn No 10 against fight|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51530752|access-date=2021-06-04|archive-date=4 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604190724/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51530752|url-status=live}}</ref>

The BBC's Editorial Guidelines on Politics and Public Policy state that whilst "the voices and opinions of opposition parties must be routinely aired and challenged", "the government of the day will often be the primary source of news".<ref name=BBCEditorialGuidelines>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/review_report_research/impartiality_21century/f_editorial_guidelines_extracts.txt "Editorial Guidelines Extracts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307235004/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/review_report_research/impartiality_21century/f_editorial_guidelines_extracts.txt |date=7 March 2013 }}, ''[[BBC]]''.</ref>

The BBC is regularly accused by the government of the day of bias in favour of the opposition and, by the opposition, of bias in favour of the government. Similarly, during times of war, the BBC is often accused by the UK government, or by strong supporters of British military campaigns, of being overly sympathetic to the view of the enemy. An edition of ''[[Newsnight]]'' at the start of the [[Falklands War]] in 1982 was described as "almost treasonable" by [[John Page (MP for Harrow West)|John Page]], MP, who objected to [[Peter Snow]] saying "if we believe the British".<ref name="Falklands Newsnight">Denis Taylor, "BBC broadcasts jammed", ''The Times'', 4 May 1982, p. 2.</ref>

During the first [[Gulf War]], critics of the BBC took to using the satirical name "Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation".<ref name="news24"/> During the [[Kosovo War]], the BBC were labelled the "Belgrade Broadcasting Corporation" (suggesting favouritism towards the [[FR Yugoslavia]] government over ethnic [[Albanians|Albanian]] rebels) by British ministers,<ref name="news24">{{cite news|publisher=News 24 |url=http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1390672,00.html |title=BBC versus British government |date=21 July 2003 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309115833/http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0%2C%2C2-10-1462_1390672%2C00.html |archive-date=9 March 2008 }}</ref> although [[Slobodan Milosević]] (then FRY president) claimed that the BBC's coverage had been biased ''against'' his nation.<ref>{{cite news|work=BBC News|date=22 August 2002|title=Milosevic attacks BBC 'bias'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2220904.stm|access-date=1 January 2010|archive-date=8 July 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040708024137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2220904.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Conversely, some of those who style themselves anti-establishment in the United Kingdom or who oppose foreign wars have accused the BBC of pro-establishment bias or of refusing to give an outlet to "anti-war" voices. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a study by the Cardiff University School of Journalism of the reporting of the war found that nine out of 10 references to weapons of mass destruction during the war assumed that Iraq possessed them, and only one in 10 questioned this assumption. It also found that, out of the main British broadcasters covering the war, the BBC was the most likely to use the British government and military as its source. It was also the least likely to use independent sources, like the Red Cross, who were more critical of the war. When it came to reporting Iraqi casualties, the study found fewer reports on the BBC than on the other three main channels. The report's author, [[Justin Lewis (media scholar)|Justin Lewis]], wrote "Far from revealing an anti-war BBC, our findings tend to give credence to those who criticised the BBC for being too sympathetic to the government in its war coverage. Either way, it is clear that the accusation of BBC anti-war bias fails to stand up to any serious or sustained analysis."<ref>{{cite book|last=McNair|first=Brian|title=News and Journalism in the UK|date=18 February 2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134128846|page=79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlB8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|access-date=17 March 2014}}</ref>

Prominent BBC appointments are constantly assessed by the British media and political establishment for signs of political bias. The appointment of [[Greg Dyke]] as Director-General was highlighted by press sources because Dyke was a Labour Party member and former activist, as well as a friend of [[Tony Blair]]. The BBC's former Political Editor, [[Nick Robinson (journalist)|Nick Robinson]], was some years ago a chairman of the [[Young Conservatives (UK)|Young Conservatives]] and did, as a result, attract informal criticism from the former Labour government, but his predecessor [[Andrew Marr]] faced similar claims from the right because he was editor of ''[[The Independent]]'', a liberal-leaning newspaper, before his appointment in 2000.

[[Mark Thompson (television executive)|Mark Thompson]], former Director-General of the BBC, admitted the organisation has been biased "towards the left" in the past. He said, "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago, there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left".<ref>{{cite news |last=Yesawich |first=Avi |url=http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=186893 |title=Report: BBC dir.-gen. admits previous organizational bias |newspaper=Jerusalem Post |access-date=22 September 2011 |archive-date=11 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511111244/http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=186893 |url-status=live }}</ref> He then added, "The organization did struggle then with impartiality. Now it is a completely different generation. There is much less overt tribalism among the young journalists who work for the BBC."

Following the [[Brexit|EU referendum]] in 2016, some critics suggested that the BBC was biased in favour of leaving the EU.  For instance, in 2018, the BBC received complaints from people who took issue that the BBC was not sufficiently covering anti-Brexit marches whilst giving smaller-scale events hosted by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage more airtime.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Galsworthy |first1=Mike |title=What's actually going on with the BBC and Brexit bias? |url=https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2018/04/17/what-s-actually-going-on-with-the-bbc-and-brexit-bias |website=politics.co.uk |access-date=29 March 2019 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329032408/https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2018/04/17/what-s-actually-going-on-with-the-bbc-and-brexit-bias |url-status=dead }}</ref> On the other hand, a poll released by YouGov showed that 45% of people who voted to leave the EU thought that the BBC was 'actively anti-Brexit' compared to 13% of the same kinds of voters who think the BBC is pro-Brexit.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Matthew |title=Is BBC News pro-Brexit or anti-Brexit? |url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/02/22/bbc-news-pro-brexit-or-anti-brexit |website=YouGov |access-date=29 March 2019 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329032405/https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/02/22/bbc-news-pro-brexit-or-anti-brexit |url-status=live }}</ref>