Mail BBC Luvvie Attack Fail

Last night saw the BAFTA TV Awards ceremony, where the great and good of those who work in front of and behind the cameras came together to honour their own. It also gave a platform to several industry luminaries, who had watched the machinations of under-fire Culture Secretary John Whittingdale with increasing horror, to say exactly what they thought about his assault on the BBC’s independence.

What's f***ing wrong with kicking a few TV types, c***?!? Er, with the greatest of respect, Mr Jay

First to give Whitto both barrels was director Peter Kosminsky, whose recent works include the adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. He did not mince his words: after opening with “I’d like to say a few words in defence of that organisation [the BBC]”, he asserted “Most people would agree that the BBC’s main job is to speak truth to power - to report to the British public without fear or favour, no matter how unpalatable that might be to those in government”. And there was more.

“It’s a public broadcaster - independent of government - not a state broadcaster, where the people who make the editorial decisions are appointed by the government - like they do in those bastions of democracy: Russia or North Korea … The secretary of state has talked about putting six government nominees - a working majority - onto the editorial board of the BBC … As a sign of things to come, the secretary of state has lately been telling the BBC when to schedule its main news bulletin, what programmes it should make and what programmes it shouldn’t make. Do you want this?”

He concluded “It’s not their BBC, it’s your BBC”. That, for the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker, was too much, and a hatchet job was duly ordered, headlined “Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Luvvie Party: Viewers' anger as pro-BBC stars are allowed to bash the Tories while receiving BAFTA TV Awards … Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky among those to attack Government in acceptance speech”.

Sadly, in its haste, the Mail picked on the wrong bloke: Peter Kosminsky is the last in the TV industry who could be described as a “luvvie”. His own words tell you why: “I'd be nervous if I were clubbable. It would be deeply dodgy if I was in there hugging and kissing all the great and the good. It would mean that what I was doing was a game. It's not a game. I've devoted my life to it. I've spent month after month after month sitting in a small room trying to achieve this. I don't expect to be loved or admired or patted on the back or become a cuddly figure of dissent who's been in some way neutered by being absorbed into the body politic. I want to be on the outside shouting, sometimes rather shrilly, about things that upset me and annoy. That was my upbringing, that was my training, and that's what I'll do till I drop”. Wrong again, Dacre doggies. Peter Kosminsky is no “luvvie”.

But he did make a coherent and valid argument in defence of the Corporation. He is fully entitled so to do. It is a pity that the Mail is so hell-bent on going in with both feet that its hacks cannot be bothered to do a few minutes’ research before ranting. But then, that is the Mail way - never let reality get in the way of the approved storyline.

The Mail hates the BBC mainly because the public trust it, unlike their shabby journalism. It tells you all you need to know about the Vagina Monologue’s obedient hackery that they would rather drag the Corporation down to their level, than up their game instead.