The BBC has been accused of confronting viewers with a diet of “woke bias” after new research suggested the corporation was failing to uphold its impartiality plan.
The survey looked at the licence fee-funded broadcaster’s drama and news output and campaigners claim it showed bias when covering issues around race and gender.
On the news website an average of one story a week was found to have been published on the slave trade, and in the children’s series Doctor Who it was implied the time traveller could be gay and it was debated if an alien should have gendered pronouns.
In February Radio 4’s PM programme issued an apology after branding celebrated author JK Rowling transphobic without any discussion of an opposing view.
A spokesperson for the BBC said the research was “Cherry-picking a handful of examples” and that the study was “not a true representation of BBC content”.
Two years ago the BBC director general Tim Davie vowed to tackle perceived impartiality by launching a 10-point plant to stamp it out. At the time he said viewers should expect the highest standards of “impartiality, accuracy and trust”.
But now the Telegraph reports a review of the output of the BBC by the Campaign for Common Sense is failing to follow those values.
The review found in 2023 the BBC News website ran 55 separate stories about slavery, and in January last year it the BBC school drama Waterloo Road aired a plot where students revolted over links between their educational establishment and transatlantic slavery.
Baroness Morgan, the former culture secretary, told Telegraph: “Given its important role in covering issues affecting all of us, the BBC always needs to remain vigilant against being captured by fringe interests.”
A spokesman for the Campaign for Common Sense said: “This research reveals that, rather than upholding those high standards of impartiality, parts of the BBC continue to peddle a steady diet of woke bias both through the plotlines of popular dramas but also in some of its news coverage.
“The Impartiality Plan, unveiled in the wake of a BBC scandal over trust, was supposed to mark a turning point for the corporation. Instead this research reveals the same old woke world view is still very much in operation. Two years ago, the BBC set itself very high standards to help restore viewers’ trust. It has singularly failed to meet those standards.”
A BBC spokesman said: “Cherry-picking a handful of examples or highlighting genuine mistakes in thousands of hours of output does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content. We are proud that our output seeks to represent all audiences and a range of stories and perspectives.
“Across the entirety of our services there will, of course, be occasions when people disagree with or want to challenge what they have watched or heard and we have well publicised routes for them to do that.”
