Ben Stephenson, head of drama commissioning at the BBC, has apparently caused outrage by his declaration that the Beeb should promote "peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn-mindedness, left-of-centre thinking".
It's not entirely clear how the characteristics Stephenson is encouraging will lead to better programme-making, given that some of the terms imply a lack of flexibility in approach; originality might be more welcome to licence-payer and evader alike.
However, critical responses have focused on the term "left-of-centre", which has been interpreted – apparently without pause to consider the term in context – to mean "Left-of-centre", suggesting a political bias inappropriate to the corporation. (The BBC has rather suggested its own guilt by apparently pointing to Boris Johnson's single appearance in EastEnders as evidence of political neutrality.)
Stephenson insists he was using not using the term politically, but to indicate a slanted approach, as in "left-field", which certainly seems more meaningful than a political connotation in context. To avoid confusion in future, perhaps Stephenson should employ the phrase "off-centre". This might still be interpreted politically, but at least the direction of any potential bias is ambiguous.
It's not entirely clear how the characteristics Stephenson is encouraging will lead to better programme-making, given that some of the terms imply a lack of flexibility in approach; originality might be more welcome to licence-payer and evader alike.
However, critical responses have focused on the term "left-of-centre", which has been interpreted – apparently without pause to consider the term in context – to mean "Left-of-centre", suggesting a political bias inappropriate to the corporation. (The BBC has rather suggested its own guilt by apparently pointing to Boris Johnson's single appearance in EastEnders as evidence of political neutrality.)
Stephenson insists he was using not using the term politically, but to indicate a slanted approach, as in "left-field", which certainly seems more meaningful than a political connotation in context. To avoid confusion in future, perhaps Stephenson should employ the phrase "off-centre". This might still be interpreted politically, but at least the direction of any potential bias is ambiguous.
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