It became the mouthpiece of Government and was dependent on the funds from the Licence fees.
Television was seen as an even better medium with which to manipulate the minds of the public and the BBC led the way in both entertainment and news coverage for many years.
Today it is in competition with the commercial channels and is finding difficulty holding its own.
Beaten in the race to buy sport coverage and in the fees charged by the best, or at least most famous, "stars" of screen and film they have become more reliant upon the licence fee and on the continued support of Governments of whatever colour.
It is to the BBC's advantage therefore to be close to the Government
of the day. Sadly this results in a lack of objectivity and a
willingness to report only those things which the Government wishes to
be reported.
On major subjects such as BSE/CJD, organophosphate poisoning, European
Union and the Euro, Genetically Modified Crops and Genetic Engineering
in animal breeding and in Medicine, Vaccine problems and Military
actions, the BBC tends to report the official line.
With UK Agriculture at its lowest point in decades and the increasing risks from imported food which does not have the same environmental or animal welfare controls as are imposed in the UK, it is becoming clear that the BBC is simply the mouth-piece for the official view.
True there have been occasions when reporters have dared to break the hidden code of silence but they are unlikely to last long.
The Farming Today Programme on Radio 4 is typical of a once good hard reporting programme that appears to have fallen foul of the puppet strings syndrome. It is now little more than a country diary reporting daily to the city dwellers on how their countryside will look when next they drive to see it.
One good and brave reporter began an exposure of the true story behind the History of OP chemicals in the UK but before he could finish the series he was sacked.
The reason given was that he had sent a "rude fax" to an OP activist but faxes can easily be faked and it is quite possible that we will never know if he had good reason for his comments.
All attempts to contact him failed and he appeared to vanish without trace.
The BSE story is typical of the willingness of the BBC to follow its political masters.
They have reported as factual any theory with even the weakest scientific possibility from infection by manure or soil bacteria to contaminated water and yet the really serious issues linked to contaminated vaccines sourced from dead cows and the OP causation theories are rarely mentioned except in dismissive terms.
Organic foods became a target recently when their reporters claimed
that E.coli 0157 had been found in "Organic" mushrooms. They
interviewed a chemical company spokesman who was obviously pleased
to report on the dangers of organic food.
Unfortunately they failed to report that the mushrooms were not from
UK Organic farmers but were actually from Ireland where they had
somehow been contaminated with Belgian manure. This after the recent
scare about the hidden extras in food fed to Belgian livestock.
Other distortions of which they seem proud have been the unproven BSE in sheep scare, the equally dubious claim that eating beef causes new variant CJD, the unproven claim that drinking milk causes Crohn's disease, the danger to children from E.coli on the farm, the claimed safety of GM crops and the "accidental" seed contamination, and the latest wheeze that the moulds in damp grain are so dangerous that the UK should allow other countries to grow her wheat. No mention is made in respect to the known deadly poisons we add to grain despite having reported on those very risks in earlier episodes.
The BBC was a great and revered Institution but it has allowed itself to sink low into the mire of commercial expediency.
We hope that the "Beeb" can recover from its current position and regain the high ground it once so proudly held.
Dated 16/9/2000