A window on the world

It is two years since Panorama was shunted out of peak time on BBC1 into exile late on Sunday night. There were one or two protests, but the BBC reassured its critics that ‘we will strengthen the News’. Two years on, the Six o’Clock News has the agenda of a second-rate tabloid newspaper and the Ten o’Clock News is about to be decimated by the departure of its heavyweights, Michael Burck and Peter Sissons. Allegedly ‘too old’ (i.e. wise and worldly), they will be replaced by a presenter who calls in a figure called Fergus to explain the significance of the news.

The current BBC regime ignores such a lowering of standards. Ratings are paramount, marketing is what matters and the words ‘public service broadcasting’ have lost any significance. The last Panorama to be broadcast in peak time was John Ware’s masterly report on Who Bombed Omagh? It was a programme of quality and bravery and it won a clutch of awards.