The debate over biased public service broadcasting is hardly confined to any one country, and resurfaces with regular intervals across the Western hemisphere. This weekend, The Mail on Sunday carried a rather damaging report from a recent BBC impartiality summit:

"At the secret meeting in London last month, which was hosted by veteran broadcaster Sue Lawley, BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals and people from ethnic minorities, deliberately promotes multiculturalism, is anti-American, anti-countryside and more sensitive to the feelings of Muslims than Christians."

"It reveals that executives would let the Bible be thrown into a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran, and that they would broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden if given the opportunity."

The article reminded me of an internal BBC seminar I attended in early 2005 where right-wing columnist Janet Daley said something which amounted to: 'young people come straight from university into this big organisation with very strong corporate values and end up incorporating these values subconsciously'. As someone who's had more than a peak inside both Britain's and Norway's public broadcasters, I have yet to encounter a reporter who deliberately sets out to be anything but fair and balanced, but I've met quite a few journalists, across all media platforms, who seem unable to divide between facts and values.... more later...