A national treasure once again. Photo: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images

Some optimists say that the current crisis might bring out the best in us. These sunny souls are invoking the re-emergence of the “Blitz spirit” of the Second World War, when the country displayed what we like to think of as our true national character: stoicism, generosity and fortitude in the face of adversity, all leavened with a doughty, self-deprecating humour.
They may well be right – it does feel somehow different out there – but whatever else this crisis has in common with that period, one wartime comparison that certainly rings true is that the BBC is once again a vital, unifing force.
The BBC is having a good crisis; in fact the coronavirus emergency could have been custom-made in one of the management suites of New Broadcasting House, the better to display the merits of our national broadcaster.
Back in January things were looking pretty bleak for the Corporation. There were threatening noises coming out of government circles about a forthcoming reckoning; the licence fee was said to be under unsympathetic scrutiny and to some the BBC’s very future seemed in doubt. Some commentators believed a “punishment beating” was in the offing in retaliation for the perceived slights of the previous three years.
That period was dominated by the frustrations of the Brexit debate, during which a long-brewing crisis in relations between Leavers and the BBC reached its peak. In the BBC’s latest annual report Tony Hall, the Director General, claims he was “extremely proud” of how his news teams had covered “this vitally important national story”, but this was not how many Leave voters viewed things, and to them it displayed a tin ear about the BBC’s one-sidedness.
But two months on and the landscape has been transformed by events, events that give the corporation time to do some repair work on its tarnished image as a trustworthy guide. That image is itself partly a legacy of the BBC’s wartime role as an honest truth-teller at a time of national crisis, for the years 1939-45 were when the foundation stones of the BBC’s reputation were laid, and explain why so many people have a strong emotional attachment to it.
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