#172: The BBC

Central to British cultural life, if not quite as dominant as it once was, the Beeb still solicits widespread affection, a refuge of familiarity in these strange times. But many a spleen is vented over Auntie's perceived leftyness or rightyness, and its impartial, 'balanced' editorial stance in news reporting is frequently the subject of attack or riducule, not least in coverage of climageddon. So what really goes on when an angry man in a shed complains, and how exactly does celebrity climate denier Nigel Lawson get a platform on the Today programme? To find out, we speak to Richard Black, 25 years a BBC journalist and long-time environment correspondent. Richard currently runs the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and is the author of Denied: The Rise and Fall of Climate Contrarianism. This episode contains a clip of "I'm proud of the BBC" by Mitch Benn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3q2iZuU5WM Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.