Political Balance On Television

EDM number 1354 in 1989-90, proposed by Robin Corbett on 25/07/1990.

That this House notes the concern of more than 100 Conservative honourable Members about alleged bias on BBC television and ITV in relation to the passage of the Broadcasting Bill through the House; applauds the comment in The Times that '... the MPs had every chance to amend the Bill themselves but were too scared of the whips to try' and that their proposals would 'reduce all television programming to the level of party political broadcasting'; recalls a letter sent to the BBC Chairman during the last election which read in part: 'The immediate cause of my writing is the widespread resentment aroused among members of the Conservative party by a recent programme ... It is clear that the balance is very heavily on the side of socialism'; further notes that the letter from the then Chairman of the Conservative Party was dated 9th October 1929 and that following it, Labour won the 1929 general election; and anticipates that history will repeat itself with similar complaints and results at the coming general elections.

This motion has been signed by a total of 20 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.