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THE GUARDIAN
Friday, 26 October 1990
Hattersley sees 'loonies' intimidating broadcasters
Labour vow to repeal 'impartiality' clause
Martin Linton
A LABOUR Government would repeal the impartiality clause approved as part of the Broadcasting Bill last night, because "rightwing loonies" will use the clause to intimidate broadcasters.
Roy Hattersley, the shadow home secretary, claimed that it was the Prime Minister who insisted on amending the bill, after a visit from the independent peer, Lord Wyatt, and pressure from rightwing backbench Tory MPs.
The new clause, an outline code of conduct for independent television companies, had been introduced "in the hope and intention that they will reduce the number of controversial documentary programmes," he said.
Labour accepted the need for a code for both the BBC and the new Independent Broadcasting Commission. But broadcasters, lawyers and academics all believed that to enshrine the code in law would result in constant litigation.
"They fear, and we believe they are right to fear, that every group of rightwing loonies will take them to court," said Mr Hattersley.
The Government justified the brave new world of multi-channel television on the basis that with such a variety different opinions would cancel one another out.
"But that was before Lord Wyatt approached the Prime Minister and she instructed the Minister of the Arts what he had to do," he said.
The bill's purpose was to intimidate broadcasters. The result would be to reduce high-quality broadcasting and reduce freedom. Programmes like Death on the Rock and Who Bombed Birmingham? might never be made.
David Mellor, the Arts Minister, who piloted the bill through the Commons, rejected the charge. The substantive law on impartiality was exactly what it was when laid down in 1954. The amendments put in the Lords by Lord Wyatt would have made it illegal to show a controversial programme without a statement of the opposite view at the end of the programme or within a month.
The Government had rejected that as "mechanistic". Instead it put forward its own compromise amendment which left out the code itself but set down what areas it must cover.
For example, it says the code must specify the period within which a balancing programme has to be shown, and the original programme must announce when it will appear.
Robert Maclennan, for the Liberal Democrats, opposed the clause, saying the number of partiality complaints to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission was very, very small: only 19 last year, and only six wholly upheld. Opinion surveys had shown that three-quarters of viewers believed television showed no favouritism to any party. There was no reason to accept a last-gasp amendment inspired by Lord Wyatt.
They were joined by two Government backbenchers, Richard Shepherd (C. Aldridge Brownhills) and George Walden (C. Buckingham), who described the amendment as "rather sad and rather silly", and called on MPs to be "grown-up".
Television was anti-Tory at times. "But the simple fact is that, although it is caricatured as thoroughgoing anti-Tory, and although it is alleged to have enormous influence on people's opinions, we keep winning elections."
Graham Riddick (C. Colne Valley) backed the minister, saying programmes like World in Action and Open Space were consistently biased to the left; in a more subtle way, so was Radio 4's Start the Week.
The amendment was passed by 268 votes to 181, a Government majority of 87. MPs went on to reverse the Government's only Lords defeat on the bill when they defeated amendments which would have obliged independent television to show a minimum number of documentaries, educational and social action programmes.
They voted by 252 to 92 against the amendment, a Government majority of 160, after Mr Mellor told them it was perverse to single out certain categories and omit others such as drama, sport, and the arts.
Labour's Robin Corbett said a higher quality threshold might help stop what was happening in Australia, where one channel was sacking 500 staff and switching to more US imports. Due to their cost, documentaries were the programmes most at risk. Without legislation, "they will be unprotected in an increasingly competitive television world, and much more at risk than now".
Mr Mellor said this was contradicted by BSB, which showed opera on Saturday night.
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