>>4
Since the mid 70s, the BBC has been gradually losing its independence to the government. During the 80s this became really obvious, when the Thatcher government put huge pressure on it to report more favourably on British state activities. Ever since, the BBC has been in the pocket of the government on a lot of issues, it's barely independent and the idea that it's left wing is lunatic. Recently, they played a role in the Prince Harry propaganda effort for the Afghanistan war and also failed to include ANY mention of the UK or US government support for Indonesia's President Suharto when he died. A free, independent (or 'left-wing' if you'd like) BBC would be doing a far better job than it has been doing.