Bizarre moment Charlie Stayt hits out at BBC boss over bias: 'You're in their pocket!'

BBC Breakfast hosts Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty gave Tim Davie a grilling on their morning show. On Thursday, October 16, the BBC boss joined them on their sofa as they announced that they had not pre-agreed any questions but wanted to address accusations on being bias on the show. Charlie started strong with some statistics on how the public views the BBC as he said: "38% of people you asked, thought your organisation, the BBC, is ineffective at being independent from the government. Do you think people think the Prime Minister is in your ear?"

He asked what Tim thinks people think, and the boss responded that he thinks people are worried about the independence of a public service broadcaster. Charlie immediately told him he needs to be more practical and they quickly started talking over one another before Charlie stated his question once again, but added: "Do people think a member of the government rings and you go 'uh-oh' because you're in their pocket?"

The BBC boss then started talking about the fact that people across the world don't have access to free press, he explained that it is "wonderful and weird" that people working for him can ask any questions on TV.

But a frustrated Charlie said: "I'm not sure you answered the question."

Tim then went back to the question and told Charlie that the direct answer was yes, people worried that the BBC was being influenced.

When Charlie asked him outright if he was being unduly influenced, Tim responded: "Absolutely not."

Naga then interjected to encourage Tim to explain to the audience what would happen if a member of the government would call him to complain about what they'd written.

The boss then said that as a general rule is that the BBC is respected for its independence. He said: "We'll listen to it, of course we'll listen. If someone raises a valid point or a factual inaccuracy, we will check that."

Naga told him that his response was relating to "normal editorial practice for accuracy", but reiterated she wanted to know how he deals with it personally.

Davie said: "I don't think we're influenced by that. We're influenced by our our standard, our editorial guidelines. What I would say, however, it is absolutely appropriate that people hold the BBC accountable, that is absolutely how we operate."

But then again, Naga interjected and told him that this was strictly about independence from the government, asking him to make a statement to the audience to reassure the public that the BBC is independent.

She added: "38% think we're ineffective at being independent from the government, that's a signifcant number."

He responded: "I can reassure everyone we are independent from the government. We absolutely act without fear or favour, we may take incoming calls from all, but without favour."

Davie was then quizzed on the BBC license fee as Charlie asked what an alternative to the fee is, but after evading the question he followed up with: "I was looking for an answer really".

It was then explained that they're considering a universal fee rather than the typical license fee.