The state broadcaster says its new Verify service will subject its own journalism to more rigorous fact-checking. But a far less neutral agenda appears to be concealed beneath this lofty aspiration
The Phillip Schofield affair, in all senses of the world, threatens to damage irreparably not only his own reputation but that of the broadcaster, ITV.And this looks likely to have serious repercussions, not just for the professional future of the 61-year-old presenter, who was dropped as a Prince's Trust ambassador earlier this week, but for the public’s love affair with ‘the box’.
For the past six Monday evenings, I’ve been spending some time in the pub: to be precise, The Angel on the Green pub on York’s famous Bishy Road - regularly lauded as one of Britain’s best high streets.
If we don’t act now it will be too late. It may already be too late. Which is why this week’s column is a call out to all Yorkshire MPs to shout from the rooftops of Parliament and save our local BBC. Or should I say your local BBC. Some of you may be surprised after my well-documented and painful exit from Auntie, that I am taking up the baton for the Beeb, but this isn’t about me and anyway I won that battle.