I didn't spot this in The Times last week, otherwise I would have written about it sooner. Here's an excerpt:

'The BBC is making money by hiring out its studios to RT, the television channel controlled by Moscow. The state-owned network has been described by US intelligence officials as “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet”.

The BBC dominates just about every market it enters, often at the expense of smaller companies. Now the BBC wants its iPlayer to dominate the the online TV market. It wants to compete against Netflix and Amazon. 

Lord Hall, the Beeb's director general, has said that he wants the BBC to become "“the number one online TV service in the face of fierce competition”. The competition he is talking about derive their income from subscription and advertising. But of course, what he doesn't want is an end to the compulsory telly tax that gives the BBC the cash to embark on this expansionist plan. 

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Lord Pearson of Rannoch, a Freedom Association Council member, asked the following question in the House of Lords yesterday:

"To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Civitas publication The Brussels Broadcasting Corporation? and of the BBC's coverage of Brexit, set against its new Charter and guidelines."

(Click here to read the report)

The reply he received from Lord Aston of Hyde, a junior minister in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was, as Lord Pearson said after hearing his response, bland:

Andrew Allison, Head of Campaigns at The Freedom Association discusses the story that the BBC has awarded inflation busting pay rises to 1800 staff, totally £13.9 million. 

We now know that Gary Lineker, apprentice Socialist and presenter of Match of the Day, earns somewhere between £1,750,000-£1,799,000 a year. Chris Evans earns even more. On the flip side, I can't believe how the BBC is getting away with paying Andrew Neil so little (£200,000-£249,000) in comparison to someone like Huw Edwards, who gets paid £550,000-£599,000 a year. There is also a perceived gender pay gap. On his LBC show yesterday, Iain Dale asked Theresa May if Gary Lineker was worth ten Claire Baldings. That is a question that's going to hang around for a long time. 

The Sun has reported today that a cross-party group of MPs held a meeting with James Harding, Head of BBC News, earlier this week to discuss the corporation's anti-Brexit bias. Amongst those MPs attending were Kate Hoey, Philip Davies, and Ian Paisley Jr. 

I looked at BBC bias in this post last week, so it is welcome news that some MPs have voiced their concern in a private meeting. It is shocking that BBC Radio 4 listeners are two and a half times more likely to hear a pro-EU speaker than an anti-EU one. 

The BBC has issued a statement following the meeting, saying: 

“BBC News listens to and reflects all points of view and remains committed to covering developments in a fair and impartial manner.”

In other words, no change. 

It is not the first time that Jeremy Paxman has criticised his former employer. In 2014 he said that Newsnight was made by 'idealistic 13-year-olds' who 'think they can change the world.' He certainly went much further, though, in an interview for yesterday's Sunday Times Magazine. 

He said the BBC was 'biased and politically correct'. As for the licence fee, he described it as 'antediluvian'. He said that 'if Amazon and Netflix can do it, so can they.' 

In an excellent article for City A.M. yesterday, Brian Monteith, a Freedom Association Council Member and a former MSP, described the BBC's coverage of Brexit as "bias on stilts". He also said:

"Recently, we were subject to a BBC report of a decline in nurses coming from the EU, when the truth is that applications have climbed. Last week’s anniversary of the Brexit vote was marked by a Question Time panel that had four Remainers against one Leaver, and an audience dominated by Remainers in Plymouth – a constituency that voted overwhelmingly to Leave."

There are numerous other examples, and quite often bias shows itself in different forms. As Brian has noted, it's not always what is said or done, but rather what is omitted.