Whistleblower: ‘Pro-trans cabal censored BBC news’

A small group of LGBT activists within the BBC censored news coverage critical of transgender ideology, it has been reported.

In a leaked internal document seen by The Daily Telegraph, Michael Prescott warned executives of fears that LGBT “desk staffers” were “keeping other perspectives off-air”.

Prescott, who worked at the corporation as an advisor on the Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee (EGSC) is to give evidence of BBC bias to MPs next week over his concerns.

‘Stonewall view’

According to the Telegraph, Prescott heard reports of “what sounded like effective censorship by the specialist LGBTQ desk within News” soon after starting his advisory role.

He wrote: “I was told that time and time again, the LGBTQ desk staffers would decline to cover any story raising difficult questions about the trans debate.

“The allegation made to me was stark: that the desk had been captured by a small group of people promoting the Stonewall view of the debate”.

He added: “There was also a constant drip-feed of one-sided stories, usually news features, celebrating the trans experience without adequate balance or objectivity.”

Gender identity

The 19-page document by Prescott also refers to findings of an investigation conducted by EGSC senior editorial adviser David Grossman into BBC coverage of trans issues.

Grossman found “unintended editorial bias”, an absence of “significant voices”, “little or no coverage” questioning the quality of care given to gender-confused children, and a disproportionate coverage of drag queen stories.

The leaked memo also said beliefs on gender identity were often reported as “established fact rather than contested”. Too many staff, it argued, “have never considered the idea of ‘gender identity’ to be either spurious or offensive to many people”.

Referring to the story of transgender wrestler Gisele Shaw as a “typical example” of bias, the memo said the BBC account “glossed over how the wrestler, who is a biological male, had repeatedly won trophies by competing in women’s competitions”.

Guidelines

Responding to the story, a BBC spokesman said: “We have taken a number of actions relating to our reporting of sex and gender including updating the news style guide and sharing new guidance”.

Editorial Guidelines, which came into force in September, emphasise that journalists must cover “attitudes and opinions which some may find unpalatable or offensive” and that occasionally including such content ensures that “no significant strand of thought is under-represented or omitted”.

When contributors express “contentious views”, the guidelines stress that they “must be challenged while being given a fair chance to set out their response to appropriate scrutiny”.

The accusations of censorship closely follow a leaked memo reporting that a Panorama programme edited together two separate sections of a speech by President Trump, making it appear as though he explicitly encouraged the 2021 Capitol Hill riots.