MPs and Government pledge to not interfere in BBC reporting.

Rejected 19 signatures

What the petition asks

Recently a pro EU march of One Hundred Thousand people took place in London which received very little publicity from the BBC.
While we cannot know the reason for this the recent letter by 72 MPs and the government control of the License Fee may have had an influence.

We are asking for a pledge from all MPs that they will never write to the BBC complaining of its coverage on any subject.
We also ask government to make a pledge to the house that it will never use pressure of any kind to influence the reporting of current affairs by the BBC no matter how inconvenient or untimely that reporting might seem. This pledge should be made by the current Prime Minister now and by every subsequent Prime Minister on accession to office.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

This is a matter for individual MPs, not the Government or Parliament as a whole.

The BBC is an independent body governed by a Royal Charter. Under the terms of that Charter, the BBC is operationally and editorially independent of government and there is no provision for the government to intervene in the BBC’s day-to-day operations.

Timeline

26 Mar 2017	Petition opened for signatures
5 Apr 2017	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 19

Status Rejected

Rejected 5 Apr 2017

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