2021年经济学人 BBC大厦将倾,溃在旦夕(1)（在线收听）

Britain

英国板块

The BBC

英国广播电台

A colossus quietly crumbles

庞然大物的悄然坍塌

The corporation can cope with a hostile government and angry royals, but not with Mickey Mouse

BBC上能处理敌对政府，下能安抚愤怒的皇室成员，却斗不过米老鼠。

Relations between the British Broadcasting Corporation and the government have always been delicate. Stanley Baldwin bridled at the BBC’s coverage of the General Strike of 1926. Margaret Thatcher was infuriated by its reporting from the Falklands. Hugh Carleton Greene, the corporation’s boss in the 1960s, confessed that, when dealing with Harold Wilson’s government, “I found my experience as head of psychological warfare in Malaya in 1947 extremely useful.”

英国广播公司和政府之间的关系一直很微妙。BBC对1926年大罢工的报道让斯坦利·鲍德温十分恼怒。BBC对福克兰群岛的报道让玛格丽特·撒切尔怒不可遏。20世纪60年代，BBC的老板休·卡尔顿·格林坦言，在与哈罗德·威尔逊政府打交道时，“我发现自己1947年在马来亚担任心理战负责人的经历非常有用。”

The latest spat pits the BBC against not just Downing Street but the royal family, as well as many viewers. An independent inquiry released on May 20th found that one of its most famous scoops, an interview in 1995 in which Princess Diana claimed that “there were three of us in this marriage”, was secured partly by deception. Martin Bashir, the interviewer, forged documents to persuade the princess that she was being spied on. A BBC probe at the time led by Tony Hall, who later became director-general, covered it up.

最新的口水战让BBC的对立方不仅有唐宁街，甚至还有英国王室以及众多观众。5月20日公布的一项独立调查发现，其最著名的独家新闻之一，即1995年戴安娜王妃声称“我们婚姻里有三个人”的采访，部分是通过欺骗获得的。采访者马丁·巴希尔伪造文件，让王妃相信自己被监视。当时由托尼·霍尔领导的BBC调查对此事进行了掩盖，霍尔后来成了BBC总裁。

The BBC promises a review of its editorial practices and another report into its dealings with Mr Bashir, who left the corporation earlier this month citing ill-health. Two former executives, including Lord Hall, have quit their new jobs. Prince William declared the revelations proof that the interview “established a false narrative” about his mother. The government is drawing broader lessons. Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, wrote in the Rupert Murdoch-owned Times newspaper that the BBC needed “a new emphasis on accuracy, impartiality and diversity of opinion”. To avoid “groupthink”, he said, “cultural change must be a focus”.

BBC承诺将对其编辑行为进行审查，并承诺将提交另一份报告说明对巴希尔的处理情况。巴希尔本月早些时候以健康不佳为由离开了该公司。包括霍尔勋爵在内的两位前高管已经辞去了新工作。威廉王子宣称，这些披露证明采访“构建了关于他母亲的虚假叙述”。英国政府正在吸取更广泛的教训。英国文化大臣奥利弗·道登在鲁珀特·默多克名下的《泰晤士报》上撰文称，BBC需要“重新强调观点的准确性、公正性和多样性”。他说，为了避免“从众思维，文化变革必须成为重点”。