Today Programme Fawns Over Cameron

 Listening to the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning, I couldn’t help but noticing the almost sycophantic reporting on David Cameron’s visit to Afghanistan. Indeed, since the formation of the coalition the BBC reporters and commentators have appeared to fall over themselves in speaking favourably of the government. There may be a number of reasons for this.

1. It may well be a traditional attribute of the BBC to support a new government in the early stages and the Beeb has always been conservative in that it tends to support the establishment in its News, and too much criticism may be seen as unpatriotic.
2. The BBC clearly has been alarmed at the apparent closeness of David Cameron to Murdoch’s News International and that organisation’s demands for the BBC’s output to be curtailed, and James Murdoch’s further call for the market opened to further freemarket enterprise (meaning themselves). In which the Conservatives have already indicated that they would look on in favour and was one of the reason why  News International (eg. The Sun) switched to the Tories during the last election. Murdoch junior would also like Sky to emulate Fox (its sister company in the U.S.A) in ceasing to be balanced when reporting on political issues, and we all know where that will lead.
3. The Reporters and Commentators represent in themselves the same public school Oxbridge ethos that makes up most of the Coalition Cabinet. This in itself has been reflected in the lack of reporting in the media in general of the "Eton Mafia "and propose a sinister defence in which anyone critical of this has been accused of pursuing a class war.I suspect all three of my possibilities are true. The first I can live with (as long as it doesn’t last to long). The other two however threaten our very democracy but it could expose the position of commentator who claim we live an equal and fair society to be protecting their own interest group.