I have been in contact with the BBC trust as I was not getting far with complaining to the BBC directly about political bias.

They sent me a letter back that has some useful links, and addresses, regarding guidelines and complaints procedures. These may be of use if you are thinking of complaining to the BBC. Here it is:

Dear Mr Hemmings

Thank you for your email to the BBC Trust.

I understand that you have concerns about the impartiality of BBC output, which you say has a right wing agenda.

Ensuring the BBC is impartial is a key priority for the Trust; it is of the greatest significance that the BBC retains the public’s trust as a provider of news and programming. The BBC is required to deliver duly impartial and accurate news and programmes by the Royal Charter and Agreement and to treat controversial subjects with due impartiality. The Trust is committed to making sure that the BBC fulfils this obligation.

I should explain that the role of the BBC Trust is distinct from that of the BBC’s management. The Trust’s role is to set the overall framework, including the editorial standards that all BBC output is required to meet – these are the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines, they are publicly available and can be found at this link: www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines

However, the Trust has no role in day to day editorial decisions about what the BBC covers in its news and current affairs programmes – as long as BBC output meet the standards set out in the Editorial Guidelines.

Where there is concern that output does not meet the required standards, the Trust has a role through the complaints process as the third and final part of the BBC’s complaints procedure. The Trust only considers complaints after the BBC has finished responding, and you can find further details of the complaints process at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/governance/complaints_framework/

If you wish to make a complaint about a specific piece of output that you feel is in breach of the Editorial Guidelines then you can contact BBC Audience Services directly using their online webform here: www.bbc.co.uk/contact or by writing to BBC Audience Services, PO Box 1922, Darlington, DL3 0UR.

I hope this is helpful.

Kind regards

Lily Rigden
Editorial Standards