THE BBC has refused to disclose emails sent from Robbie Gibb, the board member for England accused of being an “active agent” for the Tory party, to staff on the topic of impartiality.
The broadcaster said, in a response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, that it was refusing to handle the submission because to do so would cost too much money.
The request was sent in in early January, and should have elicited a response by the end of that month. FOI law says a public body should respond within 20 working days.
However, the BBC only sent out their rejection on April 19 – three-and-a-half months after the initial request.
The FOI submission asked the broadcaster to release emails sent by the BBC board member for England Robbie Gibb to reporters on the topic of impartiality in reporting.
The request went on: “Communications where he [Gibb] has sought to reprimand after a broadcast or article he disagreed with, educate BBC staff on impartiality, or be informed of output before its publication should be included.
“These emails should date back to Gibb's first day on the board, reported to be May 7, 2021.”
While it apologised for the lengthy delay in replying, the BBC said it had decided that to collate the requested emails would cost more than £450 and so it was rejected.
The corporation said that it would seek to comply with any resubmitted request which had a smaller scope. Scaled-down requests have been put in.
Gibb, a former director of communications for Theresay May and a brother to Tory MP Nick Gibb, found himself in the public eye last August.
It came after Emily Maitlis, the former Newsnight host, claimed Gibb had been working as an "active agent of the Conservative party” and the corporation’s news content.
In its own report on Maitlis's comments, made during a lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, the BBC initially omitted any mention of Gibb or the "agent" comment.
