Will the BBC own up to its Covid impartiality failings?

As Gary Lineker resumes his duties as the BBC’s highest-paid employee, it is worth appreciating that one of the Corporation’s greatest strengths is that its own journalists are willing and able to criticise the organisation in their coverage without professional repercussions. The broadcaster’s many critics should recognise this self-flagellation for what it is: a vital demonstration of transparency. Unfortunately, having worked at the heart of BBC News throughout the pandemic, I have learned that this readiness to admit errors publicly only extends so far.

Impartiality should be the starting point of everything BBC News does. Instead, editors are working backwards when it comes to Covid. They are skewing contemporaneous coverage of the pandemic in a bid to make previous one-sided reporting appear more balanced in hindsight. As the Mirror reported this week, the BBC has drawn ridicule and fury for a misleading headline suggesting mental health in the UK was only minimally impacted by the pandemic.