Trans activists blast the BBC for allowing opposing voices to be heard

Pro-trans groups have attacked the BBC’s recent attempts at balanced reporting on the issue of radical gender ideology, complaining the Corporation should not give a platform to those with ‘transphobic’ views.

Speaking to the Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee, David Jordan, the BBC’s Director of Editorial Policy and Standards, said that the organisation must “represent all points of view”, even where some of those views may cause offence.

He was responding to Lord Lipsey, who asked how the BBC was working to prevent activists inside and outside the Corporation from silencing those who believe that biological sex cannot be changed.

Impartiality

Jordan said the issue of identity is at the “hard edge of impartiality” and acknowledged that there would be a range of opinions over “whether or not people regard impartiality as trumping identity or the other way around”.

He said the BBC is “very committed to making sure that viewpoints are heard from all different sorts of perspectives and that we don’t subscribe to the ‘cancel culture’ that some groups would put forward”.

He added: “We’re committed to freedom of expression, we’re committed to reflecting all viewpoints, that is our job. Whether or not some of our staff like it is not the point. The point is that they have to adhere to that too and they leave their prejudices at the door when they arrive.

“They need to be prepared to hear viewpoints that perhaps personally they don’t agree with – they might disagree with them strongly – but it’s our job to get those viewpoints proportionately aired on the BBC as part of our commitment to impartiality”.

BBC output

But Trans Activism UK claimed the BBC was “falsely clinging to impartiality as a shield for reporting that uncritically platforms bigotry”.

It also accused the BBC of deliberately misleading the public by insisting “that platforming those with anti-trans views is a neutral act of reporting rather than a deliberate choice of editorial direction and tone”.

However, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “We don’t agree with this characterisation of our output. There are many articles on the BBC website about transgender people that reflect a range of views and perspectives. We do not condone or support discrimination in any form.”

Influence

Last March, LGBT news website Pink News was incensed that the BBC had published an article quoting the homosexual lobby group LGB Alliance because it does not agree with the self-declaration of gender.

And in June it was revealed that LGBT activists within the BBC were actively seeking to influence the editorial process for Radio 4’s Today programme on transgender issues.

Aside from these examples, the Corporation has frequently promoted transgender ideology, including telling children as young as nine that there are ‘more than 100 genders‘.

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