Another BBC article about Heathrow expansion frames the issue in the terms chosen by the business promoting it, with the only mention of the climate, in true BBC style, being a reference to “climate campaigners”.
The state broadcaster reports:
Not building a third runway at Heathrow Airport would be a “huge missed opportunity” for the UK, the boss of the country’s busiest airport has warned.
Thomas Woldbye told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it would be “good to know” the government’s position on the project, after Prime Minister Andy Burnham refused to say whether he backed expansion.
The airport’s chief executive said if its owners could not invest in a third runway, the money “will be invested somewhere else in the world”, suggesting a decision would be made in the new year.
It’s not clear why the BBC has given the CEO of a private business a platform to lobby the government in support of its business interests – except that it provides a good news story.
The BBC then completely forgets any idea of balance, going into he said, she said mode instead and mentioning
potential to deliver around £40 billion in economic benefits across the country
from the Department for Transport, without mentioning that these are projected to be cancelled out by disbenefits.
And allowing Woldbye to say that if investors cannot invest in a new runway at Heathrow
that money will be invested somewhere else in the world
without mentioning that the money will be recouped from higher fares for passengers.
And of course, the classic BBC framing:
The project has proved controversial, facing steep opposition from local residents, politicians and climate campaigners.
Mentioning controversy ad opposition without giving any facts around it, such as stating that The Climate Change Committee has, in its own words,
advised that there is no credible pathway for Heathrow Airport expansion within the UK’s climate commitments under current policies.
And of course the BBC is too polite to mention that, in its own words, Woldbye
slept through numerous emergency phone calls following a fire in March that led to the airport’s closure and the cancellation of 1,300 flights.
As the climate crisis intensifies, the BBC really needs to stop getting its business reporters to cover aviation as a purely business topic.
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