§ Mr. Marlowasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will take into account the question of political bias, as evidenced by the Panorama programme on immigration on Monday 5 November, when preparing any supplemental charter for the British Broadcasting Corporation.
§ Mr. WhitelawAs I made clear in my recent speech to the Royal Television Society at Cambridge, it is a long-established principle endorsed by successive Governments and the Annan committee that the BBC should have editorial re-514W sponsibility for the content of its programmes, in exercise of which it acknowledges a duty to treat controversial subjects with due impartiality. The governors of the BBC, who are appointed as the guardians of the public interest in these matters, will no doubt take note of feelings expressed in this House and elsewhere about the way in which the Corporation discharges its responsibilities.