'BBC's Europe bias must be checked'

Political programmes are under review

The BBC is failing to cover the full range of opinion in the debate on Europe, a leading Eurosceptic peer has claimed.

It is not a question of the BBC providing more jazzy or accessible political coverage

Lord Pearson

Lord Pearson said BBC producers had largely ignored arguments for withdrawal from the European Union - even though polls said a significant percentage of the population supported such a move.

Speaking in a House of Lords debate, the Conservative peer argued the way the BBC was regulated and its procedures for dealing with complaints were to blame.

But other peers, including Labour's Lord Lipsey defended the BBC's impartiality and said if Lord Pearson wanted to see real Euro-bias, he should look at Britain's newspapers.

Self-regulation

The government is preparing a shake-up of the way the entire communications industry is regulated.

A new super-regulator, Ofcom, is due to come into existence next year, replacing current bodies, such as the Independent Television Commission and telecom watchdog Oftel.

Regulation of the BBC is expected to largely fall outside Ofcom's remit.

Instead, BBC chairman Gavyn Davies has set out plans to strengthen the corporation's system of self-regulation.

'More answerable'

Among a raft of proposals to improve the BBC's accountability, Mr Davies wants to recruit a 10-member panel to give advice and support to the board of governors.

Gavyn Davies: Wants to make BBC more accountable

The advisory board will be part of a newly-created governance and accountability department, designed to make the BBC more answerable to licence-fee payers.

But Lord Pearson said the fact that it would be appointed by the BBC - and would include BBC executives - made a nonsense of its claim to be independent.

'Little power'

He said the current review of BBC political output also missed the point.

"It is not a question of the BBC providing more jazzy or accessible political coverage, it is about reflecting the full range of opinion and political views within the country," Lord Pearson told BBC News Online.

Lord Pearson has made a string of complaints to the BBC about its coverage of Europe through his pressure group Global Britain.

But, he claims, his complaints have simply been passed on to management, rather than being addressed by the supposedly-independent board of governors.

'Strengthened'

"We just want the existing BBC board of governors to be able to do the job they were appointed to do," Lord Pearson told BBC News Online.

"At the moment, they are too easily sidelined.

"Complaints are handed to BBC management and effectively shuffled off.

"It seems the board of governors has a lot of responsibility but little power.

"Their role needs to be strengthened."

Lord Pearson is expected to call for a new, independent body to regulate the BBC or - failing that - for the corporation to be brought under the control of Ofcom.

In the Lords debate, he pointed to research by media tracking company Minotaur, commissioned by his Global Britain pressure group, which suggested that the BBC has consistently stifled debate on the issue.

But Labour peer Lord Lipsey said consultants always came up with the same conclusions as their clients.

'Misplaced concern'

Lord Lipsey said he shared some of Lord Pearson's scepticism about Europe but rejected the claims of bias.

Sometimes coverage appeared biased when it was not, he said, pointing to positive reporting of the launch of the euro - an event which had been successful.

The peer argued Lord Pearson was not really concerned about bias, "it's the fact that the BBC refuses to share his view, my view, on this particular issue".

Former Conservative Chancellor Lord Lamont argued the BBC was not "deliberately" biased.

But it could accidentally because it "mindlessly followed a certain conventional, hackneyed view of the world".