by Rachel Stewart

Well, well, well, What do we have here?

A former journalist named Michael Prescott, who up until June this year was an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board, has had a document he sent to the BBC’s board – and outright ignored by them – now published by The Telegraph newspaper. It’s explosive. Why? Because any naïve belief that the BBC has been impartial on Trump, trans rights, racism, Israel, climate change, Brexit – to name but a few – has now evaporated.

The entire dossier outlines in stark, old-school journalistic detail how the BBC betrayed its viewers again and again and again.

Regarding Trump, it has now been confirmed that they doctored Trump's January 6th speech to make him look like he incited the crowd entering the U.S. Capitol. Both the BBC Director General Tim Davie & News CEO Deborah Turness have been forced to resign because of it. Trump now has initiated a $1b lawsuit against them. Whether that’s even legally feasible is yet to be determined. But, morally, he is right to do so.

The British Broadcasting Corporation, the once venerated institution, is all paid for by 24 million TV-owning British households via a licence fee. Yet the face of its news coverage, Huw Edwards – who brought the world news of the Queen’s death – was convicted last year of making indecent images of children.

The BBC’s highest-paid presenter, former England striker Gary Lineker, quit as the face of its football coverage earlier this year after sharing a pro-Palestine social media post that was openly antisemitic.

And last month, Britain’s media regulator castigated the BBC for a doco on Gaza that was narrated by the teenage son of a senior Hamas political figure.

After all of this, here’s the BBC’s Ross Atkins reporting on itself after news of scandal broke. Finally, some semblance of impartiality.

The 19-page dossier also makes it clear that many of the BBC’s reporters and editors are muddling journalism with outright activism. Now, where have we all seen this before? NZ Herald, STUFF, TVNZ, RadioNZ….. shall I go on?

Back to Britain, of course PM Keir Starmer has this to say through a spokesman, he did not believe the BBC was “institutionally biased”. No 10 also denied the BBC was “corrupt” – a word Trump used to describe some of its journalists.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey said Trump wants to “destroy the BBC and take our money” and accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of “egging him on”. Farage said he spoke with Trump on Friday, telling a London press conference: “He just said to me: ‘Is this how you treat your best ally?'”.

All of which tells you that the denial of what’s obviously true – read the dossier – runs along partisan lines. The left say everything is all rainbows and unicorns at the BBC, while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says this.

If you’re watching this, like me, I’m sure you’re leaning more towards Kemi’s take. Our audience here on RCR knows what’s happening regarding free speech and the NZ’s Broadcasting Standards Authority’s recent blatant and dystopian attempt to control independent media.

And it’s one thing for the BSA to attempt a back door approach on internet censorship – something the National Government has yet to condemn – and quite another for a publicly funded broadcaster, just like the BBC, to trash the good faith of their viewers with bias and impartiality on matters of immense public interest.

No wonder Trump is viewed by most as villainous, JK Rowling’s depicted as an ‘evil TERF’, Israel as only a genocidal rogue state, and the media’s presentation on climate change is swallowed as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

One final thing. Whistleblowers are ultimately good things. They are often doing God’s work. We owe them a vast debt. Michael Prescott’s dossier should be seen for what it is. The end of the BBC ‘woke’ empire, and the catalyst for a complete rebuild from top to bottom – we hope – of a once respected organisation, and career choice in journalism.

But I’m probably being delusional. This is 2025 and things are seriously messed up.

Listen to the full episode of Riding Shotgun here.