Clinton Rogers column: I'm proud of my work at the BBC

In 44 years working for the BBC, I was always proud of my employer, imperfect though it was.

And I remain proud.

In an age of fake news, of manufactured AI content purporting to be the real deal, and of social media influencers peddling outrageously distorted and offensive views, the BBC still stands as a light amidst the gloom.

Right now, its reputation is seriously damaged, tarnished by mistakes that should never have been made, by people who should have known better.

In my opinion, the director general was right to fall on his sword.

Too many mistakes have been made on his watch.

But is the BBC as a whole corrupt or institutionally biased?

Of course not.

Accusations of bias, from both sides of the political spectrum, aren’t new.

I remember the wonderful Brian Redhead, who presented Radio 4’s flagship Today Programme for nearly 20 years, saying he had as many complaints about right-wing bias as he did about "being a leftie."

He once said: "I used to vehemently defend my position.

"But as I got older and I was accused of leaning to the left, I just used to say: Absolutely.

"It’s orthopaedic!"

In my time with the Beeb, I cannot tell you how many courses we went on drumming in the need for impartiality in our coverage.

There was even an annual course on "unconscious bias."

And I understood why.

I might have been vehemently against stag hunting (I still am) but it was crucial that never came across in my coverage of the debate.

Impartiality was everything.

It was clear to us all that the only trump card the BBC had (excuse the untimely pun!) was trust.

Lose that and you lose everything.

There was a standing joke among our news teams: Sky News is always first and wrong.

We are always second and right!

Never did I set out to distort a story.

Never was I told how a story should be covered.

Did I make mistakes?

Of course I did – like famously calling President Chirac President Mitterrand in live coverage of D-Day commemorations in France!

But intentional bias?

Never.

And I argue nearly all of my colleagues upheld the same standards.

These are difficult times for the BBC.

Trust has been eroded.

But be careful what you wish for.

Former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt recently said on Radio 5 Live that serious mistakes had been made in the BBC, but he added: "Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Exactly.