§ Q7. Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Prime Minister if he will introduce legislation to appoint a council, analogous to the Press Council, to whom those aggrieved by bad taste, distortion or faulty judgment of the British Broadcasting Corporation may appeal.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir.
§ Mr. KingHave not the Governors of the B.B.C. on occasion been as much at fault as any newspaper proprietor? Have not many people expressed grievances? Has the Prime Minister himself had a grievance of this nature? Would not he like to lay his sorrow at the feet of an independent council?
§ The Prime MinisterThe Governors of the B.B.C. regulate the affairs of the B.B.C. in accordance with the Charter. 1424 In the debate on broadcasting at the end of the last Parliament, my right hon. Friend the Postmaster-General indicated that the House might like to consider some kind of body, but certainly we have not come to any decision about this. As far as I am concerned, I have no sorrows.
§ Mr. BostonDoes not my right hon. Friend accept that fairly elaborate machinery already exists, but that if it were necessary to revise this it would be quite wrong to single out one broadcasting organisation and that all, if any, would have to be covered?
§ The Prime MinisterThat was probably in the mind of my right hon. Friend the Postmaster-General, although I think that the House would pay tribute—I am, I believe, entitled to do this because at the time I was critical of the appointment—to the work of the Chairman of the I.T.A. for the way in which he has carried out the letter and spirit of the Act. Although some of us were critical at the time, many of us would feel that some of the grievances which hon. Members on both sides of the House and the country generally felt have been dissipated by the line taken by the I.T.A.
§ Mr. BryanWould the Prime Minister appoint a council to which B.B.C. personnel could appeal when aggrieved by unfair pressures from senior members of the Government?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman, who I think has been Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party—I do not know whether he still is—will know something of pressures put on the B.B.C. by the Conservative Party, both when in office and in opposition. I can remember myself, after having had a programme fixed, being vetoed on the demand of the Conservative Party and having an apology from the B.B.C.
§ Mr. GrimondWill the Prime Minister think of reviving a suggestion which I think he made that all representations by political parties to the broadcasting authorities should be published?
§ The Prime MinisterYes; I think that that would be an extremely good idea. Part of the problem is that political parties—two to my knowledge and possibly three—do make complaints from 1425 time to time, possibly even institute pressures, as parties. I once suggested across the Floor of the House when this this matter was previously raised that it might be a good thing if there were a gentleman's understanding that all complaints made and all grievances raised might be exchanged and, if necessary, published.