ABSTRACT
This chapter contrasts the principles of ‘impartiality and ‘fairness’ as developed in British and American broadcasting, taking as a brief case study the ‘Suez’ incident of 1956 when a British Conservative government attempted to regain control of the Suez Canal following its nationalization by the President of Egypt, Gamal Abdul Nasser. At that time both the BBC and its new commercial rival, Independent Television (ITV), faced the challenge of representing sharply opposing views as Britain began to move slowly beyond the age of empire. It is suggested that the ‘home’ of impartiality lies within the nation state and that the implementation of the principle is significantly affected by perceived national interests. However, it is also suggested that attachment to the journalistic value of an even-handed representation of competing beliefs has survived the abolition in 1987 of the Fairness Doctrine in the United States. Some ten years later saw the launch in the Arab world of the satellite channel Al Jazeera with a commitment to representing ‘the opinion and the other opinion’. Thus, a new lease of life has been given to the principle – once strongly advocated in the US – of a ‘due regard for the opinions of others’.
