An anti-monarchy group has accused BBC of lacking impartiality in its coverage of King Charles’ coronation on Twitter.
The group, which is called Republic, believes that the BBC’s coverage is not balanced and tends to always show Royal Family in a favorable light. Republic CEO Grahman Smith has released a letter “issuing a strong rebuke of their royal and coronation coverage.” Smith has asked the corporation to assure the public that it will have an unbiased approach to covering King Charles III‘s upcoming coronation.
The letter referenced a recent YouGov poll which stated that only 15% of British people are enthusiastic about the coronation, which the Republic said was “a shrinking minority of people”. Compared to the poll, Republic said that BBC’s coverage reflects a much different picture in terms of the kind of excitement in the British people.
“The BBC routinely misrepresents the monarchy and public opinion. They suggest the nation is celebrating major events when that simply isn’t the case, and the only expert opinion they invite on is that of royalists whose expertise is often little more than opinion and speculation,” it reads.
The group also said that they had initially met with BBC 12 years ago and let them know their concerns. Although at the time BBC said “it would achieve balance over time,” Smith claims “there has been no improvement and no discernible effort to rectify the problems.” BBC has been accused by the Republic of colluding with the Palace and failing to “give voice to a reasonable balance of views.” It has also allegedly failed to hold the monarchy to account.
Republic is currently campaigning to replace the Monarchy with an elected head of state.
A BBC spokesperson told The National: “We believe our reporting is fair and duly impartial, and BBC News always seeks to reflect a range of viewpoints in our Royal coverage.”
