The case of Jon Sopel is slightly different. He never attracted the same amount of criticism as Maitlis but many observers, this one included, reckoned that his coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency showed clear anti-Trump bias. That’s certainly what the man himself thought, as witnessed in a White House press conference in 2017. Sopel asked a question about the so-called ‘Muslim travel ban’. Which prompted the following exchange:
Trump : “Where are you from?”
Sopel: “The BBC.”
Trump: “Good, here’s another beauty.”
Sopel: “It’s a good line. (Laughter) Impartial, free and fair.”
Trump: “Yeah, sure….just like CNN right?”
With good reason CNN was Trump’s least-favourite network; it promoted an obsessively anti-Trump, slavishly pro-Democrat editorial line. In Trump’s mind the BBC was much the same and, from my own observation, I’d say he had a point. The BBC was opposed to Trump from the outset of his presidency; its coverage was relentlessly negative and it gave headline billing to every story which showed him in a bad light. The tone of its coverage changed markedly when Biden was elected: the BBC’s biases are nothing if not consistent.
The question is what happens now. Maitlis and Sopel are not the only high-profile journalists who have left the Corporation recently; there has been quite an outflow in recent months prompting headlines about a “BBC brain-drain”, leading to worries about the loss of experience and authority. But, while experience matters, it is also true that the removal of some famous faces from BBC output makes for room at the top – and with it a precious opportunity for the BBC to show that its “reform” agenda is not just empty words.
