Lord Fowler (CB)

My Lords, I have been a journalist for 60 years, leaving aside a rather lively period in which I served with the late Baroness Thatcher. But apart from that, I have been a journalist, and in that time I have also chaired two regional newspaper groups. Of course, the BBC has made mistakes; we have heard about one this afternoon. I would be the last to deny that and I hope that we will put that right. But in my general experience, the gold standard in fair reporting has consistently been set by the BBC, in reporting both home news and news overseas. We should have a position that maintains and strengthens an independent BBC. That should be our goal and no other. Surely what we do not want is the partisan and none-too-accurate Fox News being put down our throats by some of the people who now seek to imitate it. Although the BBC has gone through a very difficult stage—incidentally, we have taken a long time in this House to come to this issue—there is very wide public support for the BBC, much wider than people such as the noble Lord, Lord Pickles, obviously feel. There are—