Edinburgh TV Festival: Louis Theroux says BBC in 'no-win situation' in bid to 'avoid offence'

Louis Theroux said the BBC is in a "no-win" situation of trying to "avoid offence" and is in danger of avoiding important subjects in a bid to "play it safe".

Delivering the annual MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival, the broadcaster and documentary-maker reflected on his own career as well as the state of the corporation, with whom he has made a large number of programmes.

He said: "I feel very grateful for how much my bosses at the BBC have allowed me to do. Given all of that, I broach the next point hesitantly and gingerly.

"Lately, the mood has changed. By and large, that is a good thing. We are more thoughtful about representation, about who gets to tell what story, about power and privilege, about the need not to wantonly give offence. I am fully signed up to that agenda.

Louis Theroux. Picture: BBC

"But I wonder if there is something else going on as well. That the very laudable aims of not giving offence have created an atmosphere of anxiety that sometimes leads to less confident, less morally complex filmmaking.

"And that the precepts of sensitivity have come into conflict with the words inscribed into the walls of New Broadcasting House, attributed to George Orwell: 'If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.'"

He added: "From working so many years at the BBC, and still making programmes for the BBC, I see all-too-well the no-win situation it often finds itself in. Trying to anticipate the latest volleys of criticisms. Stampeded by this or that interest group. Avoiding offence.

"Often the criticisms come from its own former employees, writing for privately owned newspapers whose proprietors would be all too happy to see their competition eliminated. And so there is an urge to lay low, to play it safe, to avoid the difficult subjects.

"But in avoiding those pinch points, the unresolved areas of culture where our anxieties and our painful dilemmas lie, we aren't just failing to do our jobs, we are missing our greatest opportunities. For feeling. For figuring things out in benign and thoughtful ways. For expanding our thinking. For creating a union of connected souls."

The BBC frequently comes under fire for perceived political bias or a so-called "woke agenda". It also faces controversy over coverage of issues such climate change and racism, and disagreements over where the lines of due impartiality should be drawn.

Theroux also warned of the danger of looking away from more extreme and provocative corners of the internet out of fears of platforming hate and misinformation.

He said: "I agree it can feel sometimes that the safest and sanest response is to turn one's attention elsewhere, to not feed the trolls.

"But it's also true that there is a big difference between platforming and doing responsible journalism. There is a strange new world out there that is growing stranger by the day. It's our job to understand it, and for people like me that means going out to make programmes about it."

He added: "I realise times have changed and that the raised stakes – the fact that the manosphere, the conspiracy community, the far-right have real power – means we should be on our mettle to report responsibly. But those raised stakes also show how important it is that we do report it.”