Is BBC 2 becoming so chippy that it will lose the plot - and therefore its point?

Spectator, The, Dec 13-Dec 20, 2003 by Glover, Stephen

Why have our grander newspapers almost entirely ignored this story? It cannot be that they think that tales involving unusual sex should not adorn their pages. Such pieces abound. Is it because they believe that an MP's sexual tastes are entirely his/her own affair? Possibly. Are they frightened of being represented as anti-gay by homosexual pressure groups? Again, possibly. Do they wish to protect Mr Bryant because he is a conspicuous Blairite? Perhaps, in some cases.

Whatever the reason, one cannot help wondering whether these newspapers are discharging their duty to report the news. One may personally approve or disapprove of Mr Bryant's behaviour, but in cither event it is surely in the public interest to report it. His constituents down in the Rhondda might like to know. So might many in the wider electorate. The failure of quality newspapers to report this story in a neutral way amounts to an act of censorship.

Even as I write this, a further thought occurs to me. If Mr Bryant had been a Tory MP in the Major administration, would these papers have observed their self-denying ordinance? Of course not. The misplaced scruples that held them back on this occasion would have been cast aside. A Tory Chris Bryant would have been wheeled out as an example of all that is sleazy and unwholesome. The behaviour of the New Labour version, however, is not even reported.