DINENAGE DENIES WRITING BBC BIAS ARTICLE PUBLISHED UNDER HER NAME

Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, has denied authoring an article published on the ConservativeHome website that accused the BBC of institutional bias. The article, attributed to the Conservative MP, claimed that accusations made by former external adviser Michael Prescott had revealed "a pattern of institutional bias within BBC News and current affairs" and alleged "deep anti-Israel bias" at the corporation. Dinenage's office contacted the BeebWatch podcast to state that neither she nor her team had written the piece, and that it did not reflect her views.

The article emerged during a period when the BBC faced significant turmoil, following Prescott's bias allegations that led to the departure of director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness. Dinenage's reported statements were particularly notable given her role scrutinising the corporation through parliamentary oversight. Roger Bolton, a former BBC Radio 4 presenter who fronts the BeebWatch podcast, had interviewed Dinenage about the article but did not question its authenticity during their discussion. After the interview was recorded, Dinenage's office requested that references to the article be removed from the podcast episode.

ConservativeHome stated it could not locate records detailing how the article reached its editorial team but stood by its decision to publish the piece. The article remains on the website. The episode of BeebWatch containing discussion of the article was edited to remove the relevant section.