Should the BBC be defunded?

No! But they helped make Farage and should stop giving him so much airtime...

No

No. There is risk of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. BBC news is useless but iplayer is a fantastic resource. Defunded it will be grabbed by the Murdochs as they have been after it for years. Then we can look forward to paying for no ads. And dim cheaply produced programmes and repeats. I also cannot believe no one spotted this crude edit of Trump before it went out. I smell a huge rat. The company that made the Panorama has said nothing about it. I believe it was delivered to the bbc intact and the edit was made inside the BBC. Also not so much fuss while they were supporting Israel and as soon as they started reporting what was going on in Gaza, this story breaks from a “whistleblower” It stinks. More to come on this I hope.

No it should not. And that answer in no way reflects my political views.

No.
I don’t tend to watch BBC news, it can be biased, and mistakes have been made, but resignations have occurred, and let us not be naive enough to believe other news outlets are not also biased and make mistakes.

I think it is valuable to have a national broadcaster. It should be unbiased , impartial and not follow any particular political view. Left or right. They need to be very, very careful who they put in charge. Far left is just as bad as Far right and they need to realise this. Lies are lies.

I read the two resignation letters last night, and was horrified that they were completely unrepentent. Davie simply said that he had done 20 years and was moving on. Turness said very little except to praise the BBC staff. They just don't seem to understand that there is a problem. 🤷‍♀️

Very little will change then.

I think I am actually glad that the Trump doctoring happened.

It will presumeably be shown around the world, the real, and the doctored clip.
There is no room for ambiguity with it. [assuming other Countires show it correctly].

It has become obvious what the BBC were up to.
I cant see how they could get away with it again.
And if it is shown that that sort of thing has happened before, then the Uk official national broadcasting corporation would be unlikely to survive.
All in my opinion.

Definitely no.

Yes. Or maybe a pay to view option, let us see if the BBC truly is a service that is better than its competitors.

Doodledog

What is the point of replying if people have already decided that whatever you say is politically motivated and there is no option to have nuance without accusations of sitting on the fence?

I've pretty much given up on N&P on here.

Yes, I feel pretty much the same.

What is the point of replying if people have already decided that whatever you say is politically motivated and there is no option to have nuance without accusations of sitting on the fence?

I've pretty much given up on N&P on here.

It seems that during WW2, anyone who could tune in to the BBC, wherever they were in the world, would do so as it was trusted so completely to report the truth. Possibly not all the truth, as of course some events had to be kept from the public, but what the BBC did broadcast was known to be fair and accurate. For some years now I have listened to news items that seem far from unbiased. Truth is supposed to be the first casualty of war; it now seems to be a casualty of life today.

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not at present.

But I am far more near it[after the Trump doctoring] than I ever was before.

If more of that type of thing comes to light, or is done in the future, then I am a yes.

The public owns the BBC. Who Owns The Telegraph?

No.

One thing that bugs me is how much it pays its sport commentators.
And how much coverage it gives to Wimbledon.
Some of the older men would have been dropped if they were women.
The women have to look good.

I’m with eazybee. Funding continued but a dramatic overhaul to return it to its Charter ethos.

A trusted, evenhanded news source is desperately needed.

Yes

Absolutely not.

Casdon

This will reveal the politics of every Gransnet member who replies!

Not necessarily. Some will remain equivocal. Sit on the fence.
“ I like the BBC but … “ etc

No it should not be defunded, but it needs a stringent overhaul to return to the high standards it used to pursue.

The Tories have been undermining the BBC for years. Read this Adam Bienkov and Patrick Howse piece for Byline Times from last year The BBC’s Road to Appeasement reprinted here:

www.bylinesupplement.com/p/the-bbcs-road-to-appeasement

Starts:

Almost 20 years ago, Dominic Cummings was calling for the “end of the BBC in its current form” and advocating to make the broadcasting environment a more favourable one for the right.

The plan of the man who would go on to become Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial chief advisor was first outlined in a series of blog posts for the think tank Cummings then headed – the now defunct New Frontiers Foundation.

Cummings described the BBC as “a mortal enemy” of the Conservatives and wrote that there were “three structural things” the right needed to happen. These were the “undermining of the BBC’s credibility”; the “creation of a Fox News equivalent/talk radio shows/bloggers etc. to shift the centre of gravity”; and “the end of the ban on TV political advertising”.

If you don’t think that what has happened over the Trump edit was deliberately engineered then you are missing the bigger picture.

I’m glad Tim Davie has resigned. One less Reform-appeasing Tory at the BBC.

bylinetimes.com/2025/06/09/bbc-news-tim-davie-robbie-gibb-reform-voters-nigel-farage-trust/

Tufton Street-linked Samir Shah should go as well along with Robbie Gibb. They can get rid of Kuenssberg and Bruce too.

It won’t happen. Weak Shah will appoint similar and the right wing bias will continue.

Alistair Campbell: The real weakness of the BBC, as exemplified by recent events, is its failure to stand up to ludicrous claims from the right that it is somehow hugely biased to the left. Listening to Telegraph journalists bleat about a biased BBC, or Reform MPs enjoying more platforming than any minority party in history, underlines that. This is the work of right wing journalists and owners working hand in glove with right wing forces inside the BBC to undermine it. The Labour government needs to help the BBC stand up for itself and clear out those forces that want the BBC to fail.

YES